Schoolgirl secretly records abuse from grandma who poured boiling water on her and gave her a black eye
A schoolgirl secretly recorded her grandmother threatening to beat her "black and blue" after nobody believed her when she complained about the abuse she was subjected to every day.
Sophie, 12, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, reportedly suffered multiple injuries at the hands of her grandmother, including having boiling water being poured on her foot, for misbehaving.
The young girl was staying with her mother and grandmother in Kirkcaldy, Fife after her parents separated from each other and decided to record one of her encounters with the latter in January 2018 after she could not take the abuse any longer.
In a disturbing four-minute clip, the older woman can be heard threatening her crying granddaughter that she would "get it" if she misbehaves again and talks back to her mother.
"Do not stand there and f****** greet because it's not going to work with me," she can be heard saying. "The next time your mum phones me I will be up here and by God will I not get you. Your face would be black and blue, so would your f****** a***"
As the young girl continues to cry, the grandmother scolds her further. "If you're not happy, you go and stay with your f****** father," she said. "You go to your dad's and come back and you're a spoilt little s***."
"I'm telling you now. Next time your mum phones me to say you've been behaving like this you will be black and blue lady," she adds.
Three months after recording the abuse, Sophie moved out of the home and in with her father, David, whose name has also been changed to protect their identity. He commended his daughter's bravery but said the suffering she has had to endure was "heartbreaking."
"No one believed her so she hid her phone and recorded one of the incidents," he told the Sun. "Her grandmother gave her a black eye on another occasion and poured boiling water on my daughter's foot."
The abuse seemingly did not end after she moved out either. David revealed he had to change his daughter's school because the old one was close to the grandmother's house and she would drive past "shouting abuse at her, saying different things, making threats."
"It's obviously left her in pretty bad shape, she still gets counseling to this day off a school counselor," he said. "It’s made her feel pretty much worthless."
He said his ex-wife had "denied anything was going on" under her roof even as her daughter, now 14, was being "terrorized" by her grandmother.
"When I angrily confronted the mother about it it was just complete denial. And Sophie had been having a really, really hard time," he shared, adding that he phoned social services but nothing happened.
The grandmother was eventually charged with assault and threatening, and abusive behavior in connection to the incidents. The case has been submitted to Procurator Fiscal, where it currently remains under consideration.
"This woman regularly looks after other grandchildren but she should not be anywhere near kids," David said. "She is a danger to children."