Loretta Ford was reportedly seen holding a lighter up to the soles of a two month-old baby girl’s feet. The alleged assault left the infant with third-degree burns (Picture: Guilford County Sheriff’s Office)

A woman left a two month-old baby girl with third-degree burns after deliberately holding a lighter flame to the soles of her feet, police say.

Loretta Ernestine Marie Ford, 22, was reportedly seen brandishing the flame against the infant’s face, before targeting her feet outside a house in Greensboro, North Carolina on Tuesday.

Neighbor Kim Nelson, who rescued the baby from the alleged abuse, said: ‘I was sitting on the porch.

‘It was around 4 o’clock and I heard the baby crying, and I looked over … and she had a cigarette lighter lighting up, like putting it in the baby’s face and stuff.




‘I kept looking and she put the baby back in the seat and stuff and started punching the baby in the chest and then starting lighting her feet, the bottom of her feet up.

Ford is being held in Guilford County Jail, pictured after a neighbor saw what she was doing, took the baby off her, and called police. She faces a felony assault charge (Picture: Google Maps)

‘It’s a terrible thing for a child, for a newborn, to go through something like that.’

Nelson and her roommate intervened, took the baby from Ford, and called police, Fox8 reported.

The alleged abuser’s relationship to the tiny baby has not been specified.

Ford has been charged with with felony child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury.

The baby she is accused of burning is recovering from her ordeal in hospital.

Ford is being held in jail ahead of a preliminary court appearance.