It's abhorrent to the average human . . . but what motivates this sort of behaviour?
I'm interested in what others think.
Gaddafi 'poured boiling water over nanny'
A woman who worked as a nanny for one of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's sons said boiling water was poured over her head after she refused to beat his daughter.
Shweyga Mullah's head and body remain covered in large weeping scabs after the cruel punishment was inflicted by Hannibal Gaddafi's wife, Aline Skaf.
Ms Mullah, 30, was recently found alone in a room at an abandoned seaside resort in western Tripoli which belonged to the Libyan dictator's son.
The Ethiopian immigrant said she came to Libya one year ago to work as a nanny to Hannibal Gaddafi's young daughter and son.
In another horror story to emerge since the fall of the Gaddafi regime, Ms Mullah recounted how Ms Skaf became very angry when her daughter would not stop crying and Ms Mullah refused to beat the child.
"She took me to a bathroom. She tied my hands behind my back and tied my feet. She taped my mouth and she started pouring the boiling water on my head," Ms Mullah told CNN of the incident, which happened three months ago.
Ms Mullah said the abuse did not stop after the attack.
"For three days, she wouldn't let me sleep," Ms Mullah said.
"I stood outside in the cold with no food. She would say to staff, 'If anyone gives her food, I'll do the same to you.' I had no water, nothing."
A guard at the compound finally took Ms Mullah to hospital but when Ms Skaf became aware she threatened the guard would be fired if he helped her again.
A colleague of Ms Mullah confirmed the attack had taken place and added that he had also been beaten and slashed with knives.