Smith was initially charged with grievous bodily harm, after being arrested, but after the death of her husband she was charged with murder.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on January 13, 2023. It has since been updated.
Trigger Warning: This story mentions abuse that may be disturbing to readers.
Being a mother means being fiercely protective of her children, and making sure that no one does any harm to them. This is probably why a 59-year-old British woman couldn't control her emotions when she found out that her husband had sexually assaulted her children. Corinna Smith mixed three bags of sugar in boiling water and poured the hot and sticky liquid over Michael Baines, 81, while he was asleep.
On the day before the incident, Smith seemed very angry and upset because she believed the rumor about her husband. On the day of the incident, she used a bucket from the garden to mix the three kilos of sugar with boling water to create a syrup. She then poured the boiling hot substance all over her husband's torso and head and immediately left the property. She then went to a neighbor's home, banged on the door, and informed them about what she'd done.
"I’ve hurt him really bad, I think I’ve killed him," she told her neighbor, which prompted him to call 911 and request for an ambulance. Almost immediately, first responders arrived and found Baines writhing in pain with the skin on his right arm and hand peeling off.
A woman who poured boiling water mixed with sugar over her 80-year-old husband in Cheshire has been found guilty of murder. 59-year-old Corinna Smith attacked Michael Baines while he slept last July in Neston. He died a month later after suffering serious burns. #HeartNews pic.twitter.com/3wYb0BN1MU
— North West News (@HeartNWNews) June 15, 2021
Per Cheshire Police, the liquid caused 36 percent burns to his body. He was immediately rushed to Whiston Hospital early on July 14, 2020, to receive intensive care, but unfortunately, about a month later, on August 18, 2020, he succumbed to his injuries.
“Smith killed her husband Michael in such a painful and cruel way. To throw boiling water over someone when they are asleep is absolutely horrific. To also mix three bags of sugar with the water showed the determination she had to cause serious harm," Detective Chief Inspector Paul Hughes, from Cheshire Constabulary’s Major Crime Directorate, said.
“The sugar placed into the water makes it vicious. It becomes thicker and stickier and sinks into the skin better. It left Michael in agony and rather than call the emergency services she wasted time by going to a house nine doors away to tell a neighbour, who she wasn’t close to, what she had done."
I Think any Decent Mother would of Done the Same Thing! For sure… if it was my Children I’d put him 6ft under also, so let’s be honest…
— Me Emmy Jackson (@MeEmmyJackson1) July 11, 2021
“Michael was an elderly man who fought for his life after the attack but sadly in the end he passed away. My thoughts continue to be with his family at this incredibly difficult time,” he added.
Smith was initially charged with grievous bodily harm, after being arrested, but after the death of her husband she was charged with murder.
According to Liverpool Echo, at Chester Crown Court, it was heard that on July 14, 2020, Smith’s daughter claimed Baines had sexually abused her and her brother “for many years when they were children.” Her brother Craig had been imprisoned for an assault and had killed himself in 2007. He had told his mother the man he attacked was a “pedophile” who had “touched him sexually.”
Judge Amanda Yip, QC, said, "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."
More women should do such things to abusers. Perhaps then men would learn to behave.
— Melissa (@noodledoddlddoo) July 10, 2021
Prosecutors said, "We cannot and do not say whether these allegations made about Michael Baines are true or not....but that is not the issue for you in this case because the prosecution certainly accept that these allegations were made, and that Corinna Baines believed them to be true at the time that she caused the fatal injuries to Michael."
Meanwhile, Corinna Smith, of Highfield Road in Neston, was sentenced to life imprisonment and will serve a minimum of 12 years in prison.
References:
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/mum-murdered-husband-after-hearing-
Cover Image Source: Getty Images
