The seven year old’s head was forcibly held under the water for 20 seconds as Donna Curle repeatedly struck him.
Today a court heard that on seeing what was happening to her son, the boy’s mum plunged into the paddling pool in her back garden to wrestle with Curle and free the boy.
As the mum pulled her son’s head above the water so that she could see his lips had turned blue, 42 year old Curle, who at the time was had been drinking heavily, screamed, “I need to finish it – he’s evil.”
The boy’s mother was in the public gallery at Luton Crown Court where Curle, of Muswell Road in Bedford, pleaded guilty to assaulting the boy occasioning him actual bodily harm.
Judge Lynn Tayton QC hearing the case made an order that nothing should be published which could lead to the boy being identified.
The court heard that it was a warm summer’s day on 9 June 2018 when Curle visited the boy’s mother at the home she had moved into a week earlier with her three children in a village south of Bedford.
The two women had met at a women’s refuge five years earlier and had become good friends.
Curle has become dependant on alcohol over the years and that day had been drinking heavily.
In the afternoon the mother decided to take advantage of the fact that for the first time she had a back garden and got out a paddling pool and filled it with water for her young children to play in.
In fact, the court heard, the two women joined the children in the water as they all played together. A barbecue was planned for later in the evening.
Kevin West, prosecuting, said the mother got out to go into the kitchen and it was there she suddenly heard shouting and screams.
She looked out of the window to see her friend hitting her son over the head and then holding him under the water.
Mr West said the defendant was pinning the boy under the water using her legs and body and holding his head under with a hand.
The mum dashed from the house and plunged into the water to grapple with Curle as she freed her son.
Even then Curle said, “He’s evil, he’s evil – I have got to kill him.”
The court was told Curle still has no memory of her actions that day because of her heavily intoxicated state.
Judge Tayton heard that following what has happened to him the boy who is now eight had been frightened to have bath, sleep in his own bed or play in the garden. He had started self harming and his school life had been affected.
David Nathan QC defending Curle said she was now determined to tackle her alcoholism and had not had a drink for months.
He said the two women had been good friends before the incident.
He told Judge Tayton, “You are dealing with a decent woman who in a moment of madness did something she will regret for the rest of her life.”
Judge Tayton jailed Curle for two years and made her the subject of a restraining order not to have any contact with the victim and his family.
