Inset: Tisheika Washington (Charles B. Webster Detention Center). Background: Richmond Hill Elementary School (Google Maps).
In Georgia, a 32-year-old woman was arrested for a disturbing act against her 5-year-old child. She allegedly burned her son with a cigarette as a form of punishment, which was not the first time she had done so.
The woman, Tisheika N. Washington, was apprehended and charged with first-degree cruelty to children following the incident. The details of the arrest were obtained from records examined by Law&Crime.
Reports from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office stated that deputies were called to Richmond Hill Elementary School after receiving information about a suspected case of child abuse. This incident was reported by the local CBS affiliate WRDW in Augusta.
Upon arriving at the scene, deputies spoke to a teacher who informed them that one of her students had been complaining about his back hurting. When asked, the boy reportedly told the teacher that he had been burned.
The teacher then lifted up the child’s shirt and found what appeared to be a new circle-shaped wound on his back.
“[The victim] informed her that his mother, Tisheika Washington, had burned him with a lit cigarette as punishment for his behavior,” deputies wrote in the report, per The Augusta Press.
Additionally, the teacher told deputies that she had previously filed a report with the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) regarding Washington allegedly abusing her son after the boy told her his mother had pressed the lit end of a cigarette into his left temple.
Authorities said that the alleged burning of the child’s temple had not been reported to the sheriff’s office. However, when deputies took a closer look at the boy’s face, they reportedly saw a circular scar on his left temple that “appeared to be similar to the end of a cigarette,” according to the Press.
Deputies also reportedly noted that the boy’s temple wound appeared similar in size and shape to the new wound on his back. Additionally, the school nurse reportedly had experience working with patients who had suffered burn trauma and said she believed the boy’s back wound was in “multiple stages of healing,”
“This could be caused by multiple injuries occurring in the same spot over time,” the incident report states.
Washington was located at her home on Nordahl Drive, taken into custody, and transported to the Charles B. Webster Detention Center for processing, where she remained as of Monday afternoon, records show. It was not immediately clear if her bond had been set or if she had retained an attorney.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
