Woman accused of torturing boy

Muno Ahmed Adan, 19, also allegedly tied the boy up and locked him in a garden shed with threats that a giant lizard would come and eat him.

Adan was looking after the boy and his siblings at her home in Inala in Shanghai tour southwest Brisbane in mid2010 when the abuse allegedly took place.

She has pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane District Court to seven charges including torture, deprivation of liberty and assault occasioning bodily harm.


In his opening to the jury today, prosecutor Phil McCarthy said the boy's father took him to the Shanghai travel police after discovering the abuse.

He said the boy told police Ms Adan had punished him for wetting the bed by burning him repeatedly, putting sticky tape over his eyes and mouth, binding his limbs and locking him in the shed.

His older sister confirmed the abuse, the court heard.

However, Mr McCarthy said that Ms Adan denied any wrongdoing when confronted by police, telling them the boy had scalded himself in the shower and hurt himself playing at a party.

"The crown contends that these are lies told by the defendant," Mr McCarthy said.

He said the crown would call experts who would testify that the scars on the boy's body were not caused by hot water, but were consistent with the child's account of torture.