jmelvin@bayareanewsgroup.com

REDWOOD CITY — A Daly City woman faces a torture charge after dousing her sleeping ex-husband with a pot of boiling water that burned more than 60 percent of his body and clubbing him with a baseball bat, a prosecutor said.

Jesusa Ursonal Tatad was in court Tuesday but didn’t enter a plea to the charges. Prosecutors say Tatad became angry when she began to believe her former husband was cheating on her. The pair was still sharing a home in Daly City.

As the man slept on Saturday morning after coming home from his job working a night shift, Tatad, 39, set a pot of water to boil and then poured it on him, said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

He awoke in excruciating pain and ran for the bathroom, where Tatad was waiting for him with a baseball bat, prosecutors said.

She allegedly used the bat to club him in the head.

The ex-husband managed to get out of the home and flagged down a security guard, who called police.

An ambulance rushed the man to San Francisco General Hospital where he was admitted in critical condition.

Wagstaffe said the man has second- and third-degree burns over 60 percent of his body and is unable to speak due to his injuries.

Tatad’s arraignment began Monday in San Mateo County Superior Court but was continued to Tuesday due to the lack of a Tagalog interpreter

If convicted of the charges, which include aggravated mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence as well as torture, she could face life in prison.

She is being held in lieu of $600,000 bail﻿, Wagstaffe said.

Contact Joshua Melvin at 650-348-4335.