US mother charged for hot sauce punishment
A US woman has been charged with child abuse after authorities saw a video of her forcing her seven-year-old drink to hot sauce.
In the video, Alaskan Jessica Beagley, made her son to drink hot sauce then forced him into a cold shower while she reprimanded him.
When a video of the punishment was shown on US talk show Dr Phil, the audience was outraged. Dr Phil McGraw called the punishment “totally outrageous and abusive” after the clip aired on November 21 last year.
The 36-year-old mother of six is pleading not guilty to the charges, claiming no other punishment was effective for stopping her son's misbehaviour.
She told Dr. Phil her son is "the biggest stress in my life."
Peter Ramgren told reporters that she is a loving mother to all her children and the disciplinary act did not amount to child abuse under Alaskan law.
"They're good people caught up in a bad situation," he told reporters.
The boy, along with his twin, was adopted from Russia. Authorities from their birth country are also investigating the incident and say the children might be returned to their native country if Mrs Beagley is found guilty.
