Reportedly, the incident happened after Smith’s daughter told her that she and her brother were sexually abused by Michael when they were kids.
After that, she went downstairs to the bedroom and poured the molten sugar over the sleeping man.
The woman was later arrested for her actions and faced life imprisonment.
He was admitted into the Whiston Hospital Burns Unit critical care unit and then into the high dependency unit. He endured skin grafts and surgeries but he eventually passed away due to his injuries five weeks after the incident, on August 18, 2021.
The incident happened on July 14, 2021, when Smith’s daughter revealed that Baines sexually abused the siblings “for many years when they were children”.
Craig lived a troubled life and even faced prison time for assault. Before his death, he had admitted to his mother that the person he assaulted was a pedophile who had “touched him sexually“.
At court, Judge Amanda Yip, QC, stated to her, “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 at the thought of what had been done to your children.”
Later on, Judge Yip stated, “Killing Mr. Baines also took away any opportunity for the allegations to be tested. That took away his right to a fair trial, bearing in mind that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. I have no doubt that this has caused untold pain to Mr. Baines’ children. The allegations are left hanging but unproven…”
“We cannot and do not say whether these allegations made about Michael Baines are true or not… but that is not the issue for you in this case because the prosecution certainly accept that these allegations were made, and that Corinna Baines believed them to be true at the time that she caused the fatal injuries to Michael.“
Smith contested manslaughter and told the court that her anger made her lose control.
Mark Rhind, QC, said: “The prosecution case is that her actions were deliberate and considered, that whilst she would obviously have been very upset and distressed about what she had heard, the evidence will demonstrate that she was in control and acted in anger and to extract vengeance for what she believed that Michael had done”
The court was further told that after pouring the boiling water, Smith left the house and went to a neighbor where she said, “I’ve hurt him really bad, I think I’ve killed him”.
The neighbor called the police and ambulance, who found Baines in agony as the skin on his arm and hand peeled off.
He said to them, “I’m badly burned. I’m burned all over. She poured boiling water all over me. I just want to die.”
In a police interview, she admitted, “I accept that I poured boiling water over Michael with sugar in it. The whole thing is a bit of a blur. Minutes became seconds. I just lost it and was so emotional, I was not acting out of revenge.”
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Hughes said, “Smith killed her husband Michael in such a painful and cruel way. To throw boiling water over someone when they are asleep is absolutely horrific. To also mix three bags of sugar with the water showed the determination she had to cause serious harm.