Incubator Burns Daughter With Hot Knife For Talking to Boy Online

DiamondSmiles · #1 ● 03-21-2013, 06:58 PM

Sahar Thabit of Hollywood, FL, was allegedly enraged that her daughter preferred a boy she met on the Internet to the cousin her parents arranged for her to marry.

By Michael Walsh / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, March 21, 2013, 2:59 PM
NBC Miami

Sahar Thabit is accused of burning her daughter's arm three times with a hot knife. A Muslim mom in Florida burned her teenage daughter with a red hot knife after she caught her talking to a Yemeni boy that she met online, authorities said.

Sahar Thabit, 35, allegedly flipped out because she had already arranged for her 17-year-old daughter to marry a cousin.

“She told me that she was communicating with a boy that she likes and her parents were not happy about that,” Somy Ali, who counseled the young girl, told the Daily News.

Thabit was arrested Friday and charged with three counts of child abuse.

No More Tears

No More Tears is a nonprofit dedicated to helping victims of domestic abuse, especially women of Middle Eastern descent. Somy Ali, who runs the organization, spoke with the girl and tried to help her through this difficult time. “The child showed the undersigned detective her left forearm, observing two burns on the child’s forearm,” the arrest report reads. “When the undersigned detective asked the child if there were any other injuries, she showed the burn on her upper right arm.”

The alleged January burning came to light after the teenager's classmate alerted school officials, who contacted police Jan. 13. The school friend also claimed that the girl attempted to commit suicide, according to the Sun Sentinel.

The victim admitted to her school’s assistant principal that her mother burned her, according to police. This prompted Jessica Roesch, nurse at a sexual assault treatment center, to examine the girl and conclude that she was the victim of egregious physical and mental abuse.

“This discipline is excessive and inappropriate in any culture,” Roesch stated in her report.

The victim's grandfather, Ali Alomari, said that he did not see anything. The police contacted Ali, president of No More Tears, shortly after the incident to work with the young girl. Her organization is dedicated to helping women – especially Middle Eastern women – who are victims of domestic violence.

The police thought their shared Muslim heritage might enable Ali to better connect with the child.

"She was trying to open up, (to me), but was afraid because she thought I was working with the police department,” said Ali. “When I asked her if her parents hurt her, she said that she hurt herself while cooking.

The alleged incident occurred at the victim's Hollywood, FL home. “It was all of a sudden… she did not anticipate her friend telling a teacher or the authorities. She didn’t think that the police would get involved.”

Police could not question the mother because she only speaks Arabic. The father told detectives, when first questioned, that his daughter accidentally burned herself on the stove but asked to speak to an attorney after a detective mentioned that the burns were similar, according to the arrest report.

Thabit, who moved to Hollywood, FL. from Yemen, considered the online friendship a betrayal of the family's culture and Muslim heritage, according to Ali.

“Culturally to have premarital sex or a boyfriend is not permitted,” Ali said. “She has only been in the U.S. for about 5 or 6 years and her parents do not allow her to engage in these activities at all. From their point of view, it brings disgrace to the family.”

Ali explained that even though the girl likes the boy she met on the Internet, she is not ready to marry anyone right now. The boy actually called the family’s home several times to ask for the teenager’s hand in marriage after the controversy erupted but her father hung up on him each time, Ali explained.

“The boy was trying to do the right thing,” Ali said.

Ali thinks the girl, who is currently staying with a family friend, would benefit most from talking to people who are familiar with her heritage, “I recommended that she is seen by a Middle Eastern psychologist, who speaks Arabic and understands her culture.”