A soccer player from Turkey reportedly admitted to killing his own 5-year-old son who was diagnosed with coronavirus and misleading the medical staff to believe that the child died of COVID-19.
Horrifying motive
The Sun and the New York Post cited a Turkish news outlet and reported that Cevher Toktas, who plays soccer in the Turkish Regional Amateur League, allegedly admitted to police that he was the one who smothered his son while the child was hospitalized due to coronavirus infection.
According to the news outlets, the 32-year-old soccer player brought his son to a hospital in Turkey on April 23, when the boy was coughing and running a fever. The medical staff reportedly isolated Toktas and his son together as they believed that they were both infected.
Toktas later told police that on the same day, he covered his son's face with a pillow for 15 minutes. It was discovered that the boy was experiencing respiratory difficulties related to COVID-19. Toktas notified the medical staff that his son was having trouble breathing.
Toktas told police that after the child stopped moving, the suspect lifted the pillow and then yelled for doctors to help to draw any suspicions away from him. The child died on the same day that he was brought to the hospital.
On May 4, the soccer player came clean. He went to a police station and admitted to detectives that he killed his son because he didn't love him and has not loved him since the day that he was born. Toktas also insisted that he does not have any mental health issues. Reports say that authorities will exhume the child's body for an autopsy. Meanwhile, Toktas remains in custody.
Similar incident
In 2015, a father from Queensland's Sunshine Coast fatally threw his toddler against a wall because he won't go to sleep. The suspect, Shane Akehurst, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and torture in the Supreme Court in Brisbane after his murder charge was downgraded.
The 37-year-old suspect threw his 21-month-old son Corby at his bed, causing him to hit his head on a timber wall at their home. The child became brain dead and his life support was turned off two days later. An MRI of the boy's body showed that he was covered in 81 injuries including abrasions, bruises, and fractures.
Akehurst had also tortured the child over a four-month period prior to his death. He has now been sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in prison.
Child abuse in the United States
In the United States, more than 4 children die every day from child abuse and neglect. Over 70% of these children are below the age of 3 and around 48.5% are boys and 51.2% are girls. There are 2.9 million cases of child abuse reported every year in America.
Children who experience child abuse and neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% are more likely to be arrested as an adult and 30% are more likely to commit violent crime. About 80% of 21-year-olds who were abused as children have developed at least one psychological disorder and 14% of all men and 36% of all women in prison were abused as children.
