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Queens "Mother From Hell" Sentenced For Burning Tot
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 17, 2010
Modified Nov 17, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 17, 2010
Modified Nov 17, 2010
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The Queens mother who was accused of holding her 3-year-old son in a tub of scalding water because he soiled his diapers was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday. Regina Cooper, 31, was verbally condemned by Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter for taking her anger out on a kid "who just wanted to be loved," in essentially the worst wording imaginable to any mom: "Regina Cooper unfortunately is the mother from hell. The defendant is sadistic and merciless."
Back in January, Cooper returned home to find that her son Barkim Owens had soiled his pull-ups. She cursed at him, stripped him of his clothes, then put him in the bathtub without checking the temperature. She kept him submerged in the water while he screamed, cried and pleaded to get out. He was burnt so badly, his skin began to fall off immediately afterward. After the assault, he spent six weeks in a coma. He had all 10 toes amputated from burns that spread to twenty percent of his body, and doctors were forced to remove a rib and placed it in his throat to open up his airway.
Now, Barkim lives with his two sisters and his father, who claims that Cooper kept him out of their lives for two years. He's not sure what to tell Barkim about the incident: "I guess I will have to explain it to him someday. I couldn't let him know that his mother would do that to him. You look at it and you're amazed what hot water can do to a body." For the depressing cherry on top of this incredibly heartbreaking cake, Coopers' 9-year-old daughter Rasheeda wrote a heartbreaking letter to her mother urging her to get help: "When you do get out of jail I hope you'll be a better person."
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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