Devout Christian mother from New Zealand made her nine children repent their ‘sins’

Devout Christian mother who made her nine children repent their ‘sins’ by holding bricks above their head for hours and submerging them in a swimming pool in winter

  •  Mother punished  children for their sins with ‘prolonged, sadistic’ punishments
  • The woman, 52, made them run for hours or eat scum from kitchen sink
  • The children were as young as five when they suffered through the abuse 

A mother-of-nine who punished her children for their ‘sins’ by forcing them to hold bricks above their heads and eat scum from a kitchen sink has been jailed.

The woman, 52, who cannot be named for legal reasons, showed no emotion as she was sentenced in the Auckland District Court for abusing her children for 17 years.

Some of the children were as young as five when they suffered through the ‘prolonged and sadistic’ punishments.

A mother-of-nine who punished her children for their ‘sins’ by forcing them to hold bricks above their heads and eat scum from a kitchen sink has been jailed (stock image)

Punishments included being denied food, being forced to wear signs that read ‘liar’ and being submerged in a swimming pool during winter.

They were also forced to run around an 800m circuit – sometimes running nude – for hours until they vomited or passed out. 

Their sins were often as simple as spilling something on the floor, the New Zealand Herald reported.

During the trial, six of the children gave evidence, detailing the trauma they still suffer as a result of the abuse.

‘I am still learning that I am not stupid, disgusting, dumb and a servant,’ one of the daughters’ told the court.

‘It is the emotional scars that impact me the most.’

Some of the children were as young as five when they suffered through the 'prolonged and sadistic' punishments (stock image pictured)

Some of the children were as young as five when they suffered through the ‘prolonged and sadistic’ punishments (stock image pictured)

The abuse only came to light in 2017 when the five eldest children had moved out of the home.

The woman had pleaded not guilty to the charges but changed her plea halfway through the trial after her children began to give evidence.

Her lawyer, Phil Hamlin told the court the children’s were his client’s focus and she had tried to do right by them.

Judge Nevin Dawson said the woman’s cruelty to her children could not be justified and she used her ‘conservative Christian lifestyle’ to abuse the trust of her children.

The mother has been sentenced to four years behind bars for six counts of cruelty to children and two counts of assault on a child, one of which was representative.

 

 



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk