Story By: Maja Mishevksa, Sub Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash

A 35-year-old mother has been arrested for burning her two daughters’ hands with a hot spoon as punishment for taking some coins.

The incident took place at the family’s modest house in La Esperanza in the city of Neiva located in the south-western Colombian department of Huila on the morning of 29th July.

Police spokesperson Luis Felipe Duran told the local newspaper El Tiempo: “The girls said their mother punished them by pressing a hot spoon on their hands because they took some coins.”

Neighbours heard the screams of the girls, aged eight and seven, and called the police.

A witness told El Tiempo: “The girls were crying a lot, their screams were heard on the streets.”

Officials from the Division of Child and Adolescent Health arrived on the scene and found the sobbing girls in the house with their mum, nursing the alleged wounds on their hands.

The mother, identified as Kerly Llanos, reportedly resisted arrest, but was eventually brought before a judge to face charges.

Meanwhile, the two young victims have been taken to a medical centre for the second- and third-degree injuries they suffered, according to El Tiempo.

The sisters will then be cared for by the Colombian Family Welfare Institute and the Division of Child and Adolescent Health.

The investigation continues.

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