The two-year-old boy died after being left in the room by his dad who shouted ‘my child is dying, come up quickly’ in the German city of Essen
A dad faces a murder charge for leaving his toddler in a hot room with no water for more than 17 hours, according to police.
The 31-year-old was arrested after emergency services were called to the house in the German city of Essen.
Police sent rescuers to the house but when they arrived, the child’s father, named only as Benjamin S., was reportedly standing in front of the house shouting: “My child is dying, come up quickly.”
According to local media, it was not the dad who made the emergency call.
Other family members were reportedly in the home at the time, but it has not been confirmed who was there.
When the emergency doctor reached the third floor nursery where the child was the boy was beyond saving and he could only confirm the toddler’s death.
Temperatures in Germany have reached the high 30s in recent days.
Police spokesman Christoph Wickhorst, 30, said: “The postmortem showed the child died as a result of circulatory failure after going into heat shock.
“There were also signs of a strong lack of fluid intake in the body.
“It is possible the child was not given anything to drink over a long period of time.”
According to reports in German newspaper Bild, the child was kept in the hot room for between 17 and 18 hours and had no way of getting out of the room alone.
The boy’s 21-year-old mother Angelina B., was staying with another man at the time of the incident as the parents are separated.
The father Benjamin S. was arrested by cops and Public Prosecutor Elke Hinterberg, 57, branded his actions ‘barbaric’ adding the child went through ‘unimaginable suffering’.
The father was remanded in custody facing murder charges.
The boy’s two siblings, aged one and four years old, were also with the father and were handed over to social services.
According to local media, the family were known to social services.
Neighbour Christian M., 44, said: “I was sometimes woken up by the screaming from the apartment. On 9th June I notified social services. They told me next time to call the police.”
The man said around two weeks later he called the police but when they came they said to him: “They came to me and asked what they should do.
“They could not find any injuries to the children. It seemed like they were making accusations.”
The mother was also arrested, but was released the following day.
