Children forced to eat raw chillies and subjected to beatings with nettles and rolling pins

A 41 year old Chiswick woman has been found guilty of child cruelty.

It took five hours of deliberation by a jury of nine men and three women to find Carrington (pictured left) and fellow Mormon Maria Keable guilty of six counts of child cruelty and one of assault.

The two friends, who met at the Mormon's London Temple of the Church of Jesus and the Latter Day Saints, inflicted severe punishments on the children including whipping their bare legs with stinging nettles and hitting them with rolling pins.

The cruelty, described by the women as 'discipline' also included punching and kicking the children, gagging them, hitting them with wooden spoons and making them eat off a sheet on the floor and eat raw eggs and chillies.

Their eldest victim, now aged 13, gave evidence during the trial via a video link. He told how he and his five friends were often forced to sit in a line on a bed and swallow tablespoons of chilli powder or eat raw chillies when they upset Keable. To make the punishment worse they would sometimes then have to drink a glass of water to make their mouths and throats burn more. He said "We sometimes cried because it was really hot, she would just whack us and give us some more."

The court also heard how the boy was forced to rub stinging nettles up and down the bare legs of the other children and how he was beaten on a daily basis, tied to a bed and gagged, and thrown across the room by the women. His 'years of hell' stopped when he finally found the courage to tell his teacher what was happening.

When interviewed by detectives after her arrest Carrington, claimed the children were lying. She denied punching them but admitted that she made them eat chillies once which she blamed on her having "emotional problems" and smacking them with an open hand to discipline them.

The women denied all charges but were unanimously convicted after a two-week trial at Canterbury Crown Court. Sentencing was adjourned until 4th June.

May 4, 2007