A 59-year-old British woman learned her fate when she flew into a homicidal rage after hearing what her husband had allegedly done, as her daughter came to her with the horrific story. Using boiling sugar water, the woman killed the man as he slept.
Reports said that Michael Baines the 81-year-old husband was asleep when Corinna Smith, the 59-year-old who was formerly known as Corinna Baines, used the combination to attack him at their Neston, close to Liverpool, home, killing her husband of 38 years of marriage.
Smith reportedly left the residence after the incident and went to a property nine doors down, where she spoke with a neighbor about what she had done. She allegedly confessed, saying, Smith reportedly left the residence after the incident and went to a property nine doors down, where she spoke with a neighbor about what she had done.
She allegedly confessed, saying, “I’ve hurt him really bad, I think I’ve killed him.” An ambulance was then sent to tend to the wounded man after the neighbor promptly called the police.
According to reports, police discovered Baines “in excruciating pain and whimpering in bed with the skin on his right arm and hand peeling off,” In a later testimony from prosecutors in a nearby court, the sugar “made the liquid more viscous, thicker and stickier so that it stays on the skin and causes greater damage,” and resulted in burns on 36% of his body.
The reports added that Baines needed multiple surgeries and skin grafts during his five weeks in the hospital, and just over a month after the attack, he passed away from his wounds. Although some could argue that Smith had it coming, Cheshire Constabulary detective chief inspector Paul Hughes claimed that Smith “killed her husband Michael in such a painful and cruel way,” after Baines’ demise.
The day before the murder, Smith’s daughter told her that Baines had abused both her and her brother sexually “for many years when they were children.” Smith, who was described in court documents as being “livid and “fuming,” gathered a bucket from her garden, boiled up two kettles of water, and mixed it with three bags of sugar, as incensed by the accusations. Hughes described the assault as “absolutely horrific.” As Smith then proceeded to her husband’s bed in the downstairs bedroom of the home they shared and poured the boiling liquid over him.
Hughes said, “To throw boiling water over someone when they are asleep is absolutely horrific.”
He continued, saying, “To also mix three bags of sugar with the water showed the determination she had to cause serious harm,”
“The sugar placed into the water makes it vicious” and “it becomes thicker and stickier and sinks into the skin better,” he explained.
Hughes continued, “It left Michael in agony, and rather than call the emergency services, she wasted time by going to a house nine doors away to tell a neighbor, who she wasn’t close to, what she had done,” further criticizing the “painful,” “cruel,” and “horrific” attack Smith had launched on her husband. However, some people have little sympathy for Michael Baines, after hearing more about the family’s history.
Smith’s son Craig was unable to be questioned about his sister’s allegations, despite the daughter’s claim that her father had abused her and her brother. Craig had killed himself in 2007, sadly, “he had been troubled before his death and had been to prison for a violent assault.” But prior to his passing, the man Craig had attacked was a “pedophile,” who had “touched him sexually,” according to Craig’s mother.
Judge Amanda Yip claims that after his sister’s charges, Smith established a different connection between what Craig had stated before he passed away and what her daughter had told her.
Judge Amanda Yip told Smith in court, according to Law & Crime:
“The day before Craig’s death, he had been in some distress and had said: ‘Mum, he’s a pedophile.’ You understood him to be referring to the man he had assaulted. Craig seemed happier the next day and you did not explore what he had said further. Your trial could not and did not explore the truth of the allegations made against your husband,”
“You found it difficult to take everything in but made the connection between what Craig had said the day before he died and what your daughter was telling you. You were understandably very upset. You were described as being livid and fuming,” Judge Yip furthered, according to the Mirror.
Baine wasn’t on trial, which was unfortunate for Smith. But reports said, that the prosecution “certainly accepts that these allegations were made and that Corinna Baines [Smith] believed them to be true at the time that she caused the fatal injuries to Michael” regardless of whether the allegations made about Michael Baines were true or not, “that is not the issue for you in this case.”
“She was in control and acted in anger and to exact vengeance for what she believed that Michael had done. We say that she intended either to kill Michael or to cause him really serious harm and so she is guilty of murder,” he added, and the jury agreed. “Corinna Smith was found guilty of murder, sentenced to life imprisonment, and ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years behind bars before parole can be considered,” prosecutor Mark Rhind told the Chester Crown Court.
It would be preferable for the abused to watch their abuser go to jail for his crimes than to have their mother locked up for taking matters into her own hands without ever having the abuser’s guilt established. Forever, it will only be an accusation because the accused is innocent unless proven guilty and a dead man can’t be convicted.
And even though many of us recognize Corinna Smith’s motivation and even identify with her, let Judge Amanda Yip‘s remarks serve as a reminder to keep us in check in case we ever find ourselves in a similar circumstance and consider enforcing justice on our own: “Killing Mr. Baines also took away any opportunity for the allegations to be tested.”
Sources: TapHaps, TheSun, Mirror, Law&Crime, NYPost, LiverpoolEcho, BBC, TheBlaze.
