In two tragic cases, magistrates have jailed two mothers for mistreating their children. In one case, as reported in El Caribe, the magistrate of the Second Court of Instruction of Santiago ordered Arineli Castro Medrano to stand trial for burning her seven year old daughter by placing her hands on an electric stove, as punishment for supposedly stealing RD$20. The young girl’s stepfather, Silvio Medrano, who allegedly committed the abuse, was declared to be in contempt of the court and an arrest warrant was issued in his name. Magistrate Rosalba Diaz of the Department of Protection from Intra-Familiar Violence, told reporters from El Caribe that she will ask for a 30 year sentence for the step-father and a 20 year sentence for the mother who allowed the abuse to happen. The crime has been classified as barbaric torture. Manuel Guichardo, the acting magistrate of the Second Chamber issued the warrants. The young girl is undergoing treatment for the burns and is currently living with her grandmother and an aunt. Neighbors, alarmed at the girl’s condition, reported the case to the police.
In another case involving negligent parents, the judge for investigation of the Permanent Court of the Jurisdiction of the National District, sent a mother to prison for three months for allowing her four children to live in atrocious conditions in the Cristo Rey barrio of Santo Domingo. The sentence was handed down against Hilda Providencia Cabrera, 35, a resident of Calle 47 in Cristo Rey. The district attorney ordered the four children to be placed in the CONANI facilities while their mother is in prison. According to Listin Diario, the DA said that the mother worked in a spotless beauty salon during the day and partied all night while the children were forced to live in squalor. The sentence was handed down by magistrate Margarita Cristo Feliz of the Permanent Instructional Court of the National District after considering the evidence presented by the prosecutor.