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Man allegedly burns his 6-year-old's hand on stove as punishment

According to the affidavit, the father left a handwritten note addressed to the family apologizing for his actions and stating that his 'hand slipped.'

WARNING: This article contains graphic images and content that may be disturbing.

A 43-year-old father has been arrested after he allegedly burned his 6-year-old daughter's hand on a stove as punishment.

On Jan. 11, an officer began investigating a report that a man, identified in an affidavit as Agustin Martinez, disciplined his daughter by placing her hand over a stove for "stealing from her friend," police said.

According the the affidavit, during an interview with police, the 6-year-old victim stated that while she was by the stove her father's "hand slipped" and was unable to offer anymore information to the officers.

Although the victim's 15-year-old sister was not an eyewitness, she was able to hear the incident take place, according to police. The sister stated that she allegedly heard the gas burner on the stove turn on and then she heard Martinez call the victim over to him.

According to the sister, she then heard the victim crying and screaming and that she heard Martinez say something along the lines of, "I told you if you didn't stop" or "I've already told you."

Upon further investigation, police said they obtained a handwritten note in Spanish that Martinez had written to his family and left on their kitchen table.

Police were able to translate the note that allegedly stated the following: "Hello my loves, I want to ask for forgiveness for what happened. Last night, it was not my intention to hurt the victim only to reprimand or scare her so that she would not continue to do what she was doing. My hand slipped, but after I felt sorry. It was not right what I did."

During an interview on Jan. 17, Martinez stated that he had been having problems with the victim stealing belongings and that the victim did not pay attention to him, according to the affidavit. Martinez allegedly stated that he told the victim that she needed to ask to borrow items and not take them. He allegedly said that if she did it again, he would burn her hands.

Martinez stated that he turned the stove on and put the back of the victim's hand over the flame for about five seconds and that he knew what he did was wrong but that it was his reaction, according to the affidavit.

The victim was taken to Dell Children's Medical Hospital where she was treated for her burned hand.

Martinez has been charged with injury to a child and his bond is set at $10,000. According to online records, Martinez is in police custody as of Friday morning.

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