Video of Woman Abusing Boy with Disabilities in Tangier Stirs Uproar

Rabat – A video of a Moroccan woman abusing a young boy with disabilities in Tangier has gone viral, stirring backlash on social media.

The video shows the woman physically and verbally abusing the boy, who was refusing to leave the kitchen. The woman is reportedly the boy’s stepmother.

Before beating the young boy, the woman started throwing pots at the sink, where her step-son was standing.

The boy’s father tried to intervene, saying “what are you doing?”

“Stay away from the kitchen, stay away from the kitchen I said,” she shouted.

The boy tried to defend himself, saying, “this is not your kitchen.”

“I put your bread there, why are you here? He should not come to my kitchen,” the woman said, addressing the boy’s father.

The boy, who appears to have problems in his knees, fell on the ground. The father tried to help his son to stand up, while the stepmother continues shouting at the boy and his father.

“You will get me sick,” the father said, suggesting that this is not the first abusive incident in the family’s apartment.

“The kitchen is for women, don’t come here again,” the woman said.

“You are not showing any respect,” the father responded.

“You should show respect,” the woman said angrily, trying to beat the father and son with a chair.

“This is my house,” the boy said, angering his stepmother again and triggering more violence.

The woman then kicked her stepson, threw her sandal at him, and beat him with both her hands and her sandal. 

It remains unclear who hid the phone facing the kitchen to film the incident, but the abused boy faced the camera while crying following the rift with his stepmother.

The video generated tens of thousands of angry comments and reactions from internet users, who asked police to intervene and jail the woman for her irresponsible acts against a person with disabilities.

Article 485 of Morocco’s penal code stipulates that “if a [violent] crime was committed against a child or someone under the age of eighteen, an incapacitated person, a handicapped person, or a person known for his weak mental capacities, the culprit is punished with imprisonment for 10 to 20 years.”