A nanny has been accused of burning a two-year-old boy with a curling iron discipline him when he refused to listen to her.

Nosipho Nxumalo, from Harlem, New York, was arrested after the boy’s horrified mum noticed the boy’s injuries and watched home security footage showing the alleged abuse.


“After she burns him several times, you see her – you could tell she was telling him, ‘See that’s what happens when you don’t listen,’ and then she hugs him,” mother Angela Persaud told NBC4 New York.

“She’s playing these warped mind games with my child, and it’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life.”

In court documents seen by the broadcaster Nxumalo appears to admit to the attack, saying:

“The child wouldn’t listen. I wanted to discipline him using the iron so I burned him.”

Ms Persaud discovered the boy’s injury when she touched his left hand and he cried out in pain. He told her what happened and she reviewed the home security footage.

Nxumalo, who was recommended by a local nanny agency, is being charged with two counts of assault in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree and endangering the welfare of a child.

She has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held on $25,000 (£21,000) bail.

Ms Persaud, is now warning other parents to be vigilant when hiring home help...