A pregnant woman yesterday described how she was jolted out of bed by the screams of her three-year-old son who was scalded with hot water by her partner.

The boy had blisters on the left side of his face and upper chest

Sharon Fenech, who is three months’ pregnant, said she heard her youngest son Jesred scream “Daddy, it’s hot,” several times on June 2 when they were in their Fgura flat.

Ms Fenech was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Andrea Camilleri, 29, of Luqa, who is pleading not guilty to grievously injuring the boy and slightly injuring her. He was also charged with relapsing.

“I woke up because I heard him shout and I went to the bathroom.

“I saw Andrea kneeling by the bathtub holding the shower head on Jesred, who was crying,” she said.

Ms Fenech told Magistrate Edwina Grima that they had woken up at about 8 a.m. and started arguing. Mr Camilleri then told her he was going out to smoke and she fell asleep again before being awaken by her son’s screams.

“Andrea told me that he used cold water. I took Jesred out of the tub and dressed him quickly to take him to the health clinic because I saw his skin was turning red,” she said.

She soon spotted blisters on the boy’s skin, so fetched her mobile phone to call an ambulance.

“Andrea took my phone and threw it on the ground. I tried to run out for help but he pulled me back and hit me,” she said.

She testified that she managed to get hold of her phone and locked herself in the bedroom and texted her sister to call for help.

In the meantime, she saw Mr Camilleri had left the apartment.

When asked by Magistrate Grima, Ms Fenech said the bathroom was full of steam when she walked in and that the tap was set on warm. Her son had his back to the tap, she said.

She also pointed out that when her son was interviewed by a social worker and by the police, he was consistent about the fact that Mr Camilleri used hot water.

Ms Fenech said she also had a five-year-old son, Claude. Neither of the two boys were Mr Camilleri’s, though she was pregnant with his child. Mr Camilleri got on well with her eldest son but did not like the younger one, often describing him as “whiny” and “annoying”, she said.

Police Inspector Jurgen Vella, prosecuting, said Mr Camilleri denied that he did not get on well with the younger boy.

The inspector said that the accused claimed the water had only been running for three seconds and that he was holding the shower head with one hand and picking up something from the bath with the other.

Mr Camilleri also told the police that the shower head was leaking, adding that if he were really using hot water he would have been scalded himself.

The couple often had arguments and, in fact, two police reports had been filed earlier this year, the officer added.

A doctor specialising in child abuse and social cases at hospital, Mariella Mangion, said the burns on the child were consistent with a “cascade effect”, starting from the head and losing heat as it ran down the body.

The child spent a week in hospital and had his bandages changed every other day.

The boy had blisters on the left side of his face and upper chest, followed by redness on his lower body.

She referred to UK guidelines for burns and said that it was estimated that at a temperature of 65°C and higher it took one second to scald while it would take five seconds if temperature was 60°C.

When defence lawyer David Farrugia Sacco asked whether the wounds would leave a scar, Dr Mangion said that, from her initial observation after the incident, it did not seem likely.

However, she pointed out that she did not follow the case and did not know whether there were any complications.