Mother murders 19-month-old daughter by pouring scalding water over her

A 26-year-old mother was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, after she was found guilty of murdering her 19-month-old daughter on March 6 by scalding her to death. Kate Crowder had poured hot water over her daughter while in their home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and left her daughter screaming in agony for an hour while she was "clearing up" puppy mess.

During Crowder's trial, prosecutors pointed out that it was not an instant death for her daughter as it had taken "in the region of one hour for her to die." Crowder took the liberty of "clearing up" before taking the baby to her parents house who live on the same street.

Judge Jeremy Baker handed down a life sentence with a minimum term of 21 years.

"You poured a significant quantity of scalding water over Gracie's face and body while she sat in a pool of equally hot water, causing deep burns to at least 65% of the surface of her skin," the judge said.

He added that the loss of fluid from the toddler's blood vessels caused her injuries to eventually lead to organ failure and death.

The court also took into account Crowder's psychiatric records where the judge concluded the mother was suffering from mental and behavioural disorders secondary to her abusive use of cocaine at the time she killed her daughter.

It was the judge's conclusion that he had no doubt Crowder had taken a significant amount of cocaine on the morning of the horrifying incident.

Investigations on the case also revealed how the mother had made previous comments about her child saying:

"I need to get her to nursery, I never get a break at all."

When her parents asked her " What the hell have you done?",

Crowder responded with:
" I don't know, I found her like this."

The young girl was pronounced dead shortly after she arrived at hospital from which she had succumbed from deep burns.

Crowder had denied murdering her daughter but the jury dismissed her claims that she had been cleaning up the mess from their puppy before finding her daughter face down in the bathroom, the Daily Mail wrote.