By MARISSA DECHANT
Staff writer
An Oil City woman accused of burning her 4-year-old child’s hands with cigarettes in July was held for court Wednesday.
Paulina Sines, 20, appeared before district judge Matthew Kirtland for the preliminary hearing in Venango County Central Court.
Assistant District Attorney Justin Fleeger opened by calling Oil City patrolman Cory Ruditis, the arresting officer on the case, to testify.
On Oct. 3, Sines was interviewed by Ruditis and said she had only burned her daughter once when her child accidentally bumped into her cigarette, said Ruditis. Sines said she didn’t know how the other burn mark had occurred, Ruditis said.
Ruditis said the child stated during an interview that Sines had burned her.
Sines was again interviewed by police on Oct. 30, and she said she intentionally burned the child with lit cigarettes on two separate occasions, Ruditis said. Sines said both incidents occurred as punishment when the child would not listen, Ruditis said.
Ruditis said prior instances that involved the child being temporarily removed from the care of her mother included a force feeding incident and another time when the girl had been bitten by a dog.
Kirtland ruled all charges be bound over for further proceedings.
Sines was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault – child less than 6 years old, a felony count of endangering the welfare of children and two misdemeanor counts of simple assault.
She remains in the Venango County jail after her bail was revoked earlier this month.
