Abused children forced to eat hot pepper by parents
Wokingham Borough Council brought a legal case against the parents
At a glance
Two children were disciplined by being forced to eat spoonfuls of paprika, a judge rules
The pair were also forced to adopt "stress positions" as a punishment
One child recorded his mother caning him for more than an hour
The boy and girl have been taken into care
- Published
Two children were forced by their parents to eat hot pepper as punishments, a judge has found.
The pair suffered prolonged beatings and were threatened with a kitchen knife, Judge Richard Case ruled at the family court in Slough.
The girl and boy have been taken into care.
The parents have been charged with eight assaults and threatening a person with an offensive weapon, the written judgement said.
Wokingham Borough Council, which brought the case, alleged the children had suffered 16 instances or categories of abuse.
Judge Case found that 11 events, dating back to before 2018, were proved on the balance of probability.
'Stress positions'
His ruling said: "The mother made the children eat spoonfuls of paprika and... threatened to apply pepper to their eyes, mouth and ears."
The judge said the boy told an interviewer: "[My mother] basically said that we weren’t crying enough so we were gonna keep taking it or she was gonna put it in our eyes to make us cry more."
The judgement continued: "The father subjected the children to stress positions.
"This was intended by the father to be a painful punishment... On occasions, if the children moved from the positions, the father would beat them with a cane."
One child made an audio recording of his mother beating him on the feet for more than an hour, the judge said.
This happened "despite [the boy] weeping, crying and screaming and pleas for her to stop", Judge Case added.
The mother then beat the girl over a period of an hour and a half as a punishment for not doing as she was told, the judge ruled.
The children were also caned on several occasions by their father, Judge Case said.
The children are the subjects of Interim Care Orders, according to the judgement.
Wokingham Borough Council has been approached for comment.
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