BEATEN with wooden sticks, spoons and a belt - punishments one Weston 10-year-old girl allegedly endured at the hands of her mother, a court heard.

The mum, who cannot be named to protect the child’s identity, appeared at North Somerset Courthouse last week charged with assault and ill neglect of a child.

The schoolgirl said she had been abused by her mother and another relative over a period of years.

She said the assaults happened after she failed to do her chores properly.

The court heard that the girl had allegedly been whacked with a hairbrush, hit across the face with a belt and whipped with a phone charger cable after failing to dress her younger sibling in the correct order.

Alison Longhorn, prosecuting, said: “The girl said she was told to do the washing up, but as she didn’t do it properly she was hit with a spoon.

“On another occasion she said her mother took a black belt and hit her across the face with it.

“She said her mother keeps the belt under her pillow for smacking and that on average she and her sibling are hit at least once a day or every other day.”

The girl said she is expected to do chores around the house, and is often hit with wooden sticks. She also told police she was once dragged out of her bed and beaten.

After being struck with various makeshift weapons, she said she then had to put her hands in cold water to ease the pain.

No plea was entered by the woman, who lives in Weston town centre, and her case is expected to be committed to Bristol Crown Court in July.