In what can be considered a case of extreme punishment, an eight-year-old boy was doused with gasolene and set afire because he lost a foot of his school shoes.

The Kingston West police say the child is now in hospital and nursing third-degree burns to over 40 per cent of his body.

"Yu nuh hear 'bout it? My gosh if yu eva si di likkle bway yu cry," a policewoman remarked to her colleague when THE WEEKEND STAR called the Trench Town Police Station and inquired about the incident yesterday.

The child's father was on Wednesday slapped with a charge of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and will appear in court on Monday.

Police say the child wore his regular pair of shoes to school on Tuesday. He, however, carried another pair with him, which he is said to have put on when he arrived at school.

When he returned home about 4 p.m., he realised that one foot from the pair of school shoes was missing.

Fiery reprimand

The police say that the boy's father tried to reprimand his son by lighting a circle of fire, which he made by pouring gasolene around his son before igniting the substance.

It is further reported that the child ran but was ordered by his father to return to the fiery circle. The child complied but then tried to run again.

The father, it is alleged, then threw the gasolene at the running child.

This caused a huge burst of flames, which lit up the infant. He was taken to hospital where he is being treated.

Word of the incident has left residents commenting about the incident.

"Di likkle yute scarred fi life star, a eediat ting dat all because di yute lose him school shoes. Everybody 'bout ya vex, wi nah lie," said 25-year-old Kevin Hendricks.

"School shoes can always buy back eno. Wi only hope seh him nuh scar up too much still, 'cause dat can have a negative impact pon him future still," another resident added.