Fayetteville mom charged with burning child with iron

Fayetteville, N.C. — Cumberland County sheriff's officials arrested a Fayetteville mother on Saturday and charged her with burning her 11-year-old daughter with an iron.

Nia Michelle Brooks, 33, of 113-D Vineland Drive, was placed in the Cumberland County Detention Center under a $100,000 secured bond.

Investigators say Brooks burned her daughter with a hot iron on both her arms, the top left thigh and on her right leg near the kneecap. The child said it happened because she wasn’t ironing her Easter dress the way her mother wanted.

The child is mildly retarded, has no field of vision in her right eye and only 30 percent field of vision in her left eye, according to sheriff's officials.

A teacher reported the injuries after seeing scars on the girl's arm when she rolled up her sleeves while playing outside at school. The girl wore a coat to school with temperatures in the 80- to 90-degree range to hide her injuries, officials said.

The Cumberland County Department of Social Services investigated the teacher’s concerns of abuse. The case was turned over to sheriff’s detectives who charged Brooks with maiming, aggravated assault on a handicapped person, felony child abuse and assault inflicting serious injury.

Brooks was scheduled to make a first court appearance on those charges in a District Courtroom on Monday.