Corinna Smith, 59, poured boiling water with sugar over her sleeping husband, Michael Baines, 80. Her daughter had told her that Michael had s€xually abused her and her brother when they were children.
“Livid” and “fuming” Smith boiled up two kettles of water and mixed it with three bags of sugar in a garden bucket. Then she went into the downstairs bedroom where he lay in bed sleeping and poured the molten sugar over him. She was later prosecuted for these actions and sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to prosecutors, the sugar “made the liquid more viscous, thicker and stickier, so that it stays on the skin and causes greater damage and that is exactly what it did”. Baines suffered burns on 36% of his body. He was admitted into the Whiston Hospital Burns Units critical care unit and then into the high dependency unit. He endured skin grafts and surgeries but he eventually passed away due to his injuries five weeks after the incident, on August 18, 2021.
On July 14 of that year, Smith’s daughter told her that Baines had s€xually abused her and her brother for many years when they were children.
Her brother, Craig, had taken his own life in 2007 at the age of 25. He was troubled throughout his life, even going to prison for assault. Before his death, he had admitted to his mother that the person he assaulted was a pedophile who had “touched him s€xually“.
Years later, Smith connected this incident with her daughter’s claim and administered punishment on the person she thought responsible.
At court, Judge Amanda Yip, QC, stated to her, “You found it difficult to take everything in, but made the connection between what Craig had said the day before he died and what your daughter was telling you. You were understandably very upset. You were described as being livid and fuming at the thought of what had been done to your children.”
Later on, Judge Yip stated, “K!lling Mr. Baines also took away any opportunity for the allegations to be tested. That took away his right to a fair trial, bearing in mind that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. I have no doubt that this has caused untold pain to Mr. Baines’ children. The allegations are left hanging but unproven…”
Corinna Smith had contested for manslaughter, saying her anger caused her to lose control. However, this argument felt weak when considering the planning that went into the attack, including adding the sugar and boiling water for 13 minutes to fill the bucket.