A 40-year-old woman was arrested for badly burning her nephew with a clothes iron after he refused to obey her, Gauteng police said on Wednesday.

"The 13-year-old boy who lives with his aunt and grandmother, was playing at their house in Devon on Friday," Captain Johannes Ramphora said.

He said the aunt claimed that the child was being naughty and did not want to listen to her.

"She then switched on the iron and together with a friend, held him down and burnt him all over his body, including on his face.

"The boy struggled to get away, but could not.

He said the boy's mother arrived at the house the next day and found her son sleeping in his bed with burn wounds. She then reported the incident to police.

"The aunt ran away but police managed to find her and arrest her today...we are still searching for her friend who helped hold down her nephew." The boy was hospitalised but has since been released.

"He has terrible burns on his body and face, there is definitely going to be scarring...we don't know what prompted his aunt to do such a thing, it's not as if she was out of her mind or drunk," Ramphora said.

She was charged with attempted murder and will appear in the Nigel Magistrate's Court soon.

Sapa