Young girl who poured boiling-hot water on 11-year-old friend 'tried to kill herself when she saw what she'd done'

Aniya Grant Stuart’s actions left Jamoneisha Merritt in hospital with second-degree burns to her face, shoulders and back

A 12-year-old girl who poured boiling water on a friend at a sleepover has been arrested and has tried to kill herself.

Aniya Grant Stuart’s actions left Jamoneisha Merritt, 11, in intensive care at Harlem Hospital Center in New York with second-degree burns to her face, shoulders and back.

Aniya has been charged with felony assault and apparently tried to kill herself with a knife after she saw the injuries she had inflicted on her friend.

She is being treated for her injuries in a separate hospital and is currently on suicide watch.

Shernett Panton, Aniya's mother, said the incident occurred at around 4am and condemned her daughter’s actions.

“They always prank each other. My daughter was sleeping and Jamoni poured cold water on Aniya. My daughter was like, "OK, if you’re going to do a prank on me, I’m going to prank you back,” she told the New York Daily News.

“But my daughter — I don’t know what she was thinking — boiled hot water and poured it on Jamoni’s face.

“What she did was really wrong, but it’s too much right now. My daughter is 12. Everybody makes mistakes.”

There are conflicting reports, with some suggesting the girls were participating in the craze known as the Hot Water Challenge, in which an unsuspecting person has hot water poured over them and others claiming the incident was the result of an argument.

Jamoneisha's mother said her daughter was bullied and that other children often picked on her.

“She's very sad. She's emotionally messed up. She doesn’t understand why they did that to her,” she told Spectrum News 1.

“She thought they was her friends. I was told that they didn't like her. And they just been bullying her.”

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