A Harlem woman was arrested Thursday for allegedly burning a 2-year-old boy with a curling iron on Long Island, police say.
The boy’s mother was bathing him at their Baldwin home when he suddenly screamed in pain as she touched his left hand, Nassau County police said. She noticed redness on his hand and that he was in a significant amount of pain.
Authorities said the 2-year-old replied that the nanny burned him with an iron when his mom asked what happened. She then reviewed video from a home security camera, which allegedly showed the nanny touching a red curling iron to the hand and leg of the child.
The child’s mother, Angela Persaud, recounted to NBC 4 New York the horrifying discovery on video.
“After she burns him several times, you see her — you could tell she was telling him, ‘See that’s what happens when you don’t listen,’ and then she hugs him,” said Persaud.
“She’s playing these warped mind games with my child, and it’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life,” Persaud said, choking up in tears.
Persaud called police, and authorities arrested the 21-year-old nanny, Nosipho Nxumalo of Harlem, at 10:40 p.m Thursday without incident, officials said.
Court documents indicate Nxumalo admitted to the attack, saying “The child wouldn’t listen. I wanted to discipline him using the iron so I burned him.”
Nxumalo had been taking care of the boy for about two months. The child’s mother told NBC 4 New York the nanny had been recommended by a local agency, Moms Helper Inc. The agency didn’t return a call for comment Friday.
“This isn’t something that just happened once. So my heart skips beats because I don’t know what I don’t know,” said Persaud.
“You play everything over in your mind. Could I have prevented this, should I have asked her to leave earlier?” she said.
Nxumalo is being charged with two counts of assault in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree and endangering the welfare of a child.
Nxumalo has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held on $25,000 bail. She received a stay away order of protection for the child and his parents, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.
She is represented by Legal Aid, but a specific attorney wasn’t available.
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