Jamoneisha's relatives said she was a :kindhearted" girl who thought the others at the sleepover were her friends (pictured before attack). Photo / Facebook
By Jennifer Smith
Warning Graphic Images, Distressing Content.
These are the excruciating injuries of an 11-year-old girl who had boiling water poured over her by a friend at a sleepover.
Jamoneisha Merritt is in hospital in Harlem, New York, with second degree burns to her face, shoulders and back, are severely burned and have skin missing.
Aniya Grant Stuart, the 12-year-old who threw the water on her, is in a different hospital after trying to take her own life.
Her mother has revealed that when she saw the extent of the injuries she'd inflicted on her friend, she tried to kill herself.
According to her mother Ebony, Aniya waited until she went to sleep then boiled water and filled a cup with it.
She poured it on Jamoneisha's head, neck, face and chest.
She sat up suddenly, screaming and crying, and was taken to hospital.
"Her friends wanted to play the hot water challenge and that's what happened," Ebony said on social media, sharing a photograph of her little girl screaming in agony as doctors tried to treat her burns.
Jamoneisha remains in the intensive care unit at Harlem Hospital Center.
Shernett Panton, Aniya's mother, said the incident occurred at around 4am.
She told New York Daily News her daughter was retaliating after Jamoneisha threw cold water on her earlier in the day.
"They always prank each other. My daughter was sleeping and Jamoni poured cold water on Aniya.
"My daughter was like, 'OK, if you're gonna do a prank on me, I'm gonna prank you back.'
"But my daughter - I don't know what she was thinking - boiled hot water and poured it on Jamoni's face," she said.
After learning how seriously she'd hurt her friend, she tried to kill herself.
Her mother condemned her behavior but said: "What she did was really wrong, but it's too much right now.
"My daughter is 12. Everybody makes mistakes."
Jamoneisha is expected to make a full recovery. A reverend who visited her in hospital said on Thursday she was "sitting up" and "smiling".
The horrifying incident has sparked an angry row between the girls' mothers.
Aniya's mother claimed Ebony threatened her after the incident.
Ebony earlier shared photographs of her daughter's injuries online in an attempt to show children how dangerous the prank is.
"I can't take it down. I need for these kids to know how serious this is," she said.
Other relatives described Jamoneisha as a "caring" and "kindhearted" little girl.
Jamoneisha's mother said the other children had been bullying her daughter and that they often picked on her.
She said her daughter is "confused" and "upset" by the attack and that she thought they were her friends.
"She's very sad. She's emotionally messed up.
"She don't understand why they did that to her.
"She thought they was her friends.
"I was told that they didn't like her. And they just been bullying her," she told Spectrum News 1.
The prank is a variation of a similar trend which saw another girl, 11, die after drinking boiling water through a straw.
Eight-year-old Ki'ari Pope died earlier this month after copying a video of others doing the same.
If you are worried about your or someone else's mental health, the best place to get help is your GP or local mental health provider. However, if you or someone else is in danger or endangering others, call police immediately on 111.
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