A little boy of 6 years old, locked in a closet without food, died of hunger in Arizona, in the United States. His parents and his grandmother were arrested for murder and child abuse.
A sordid and tragic case of child abuse. In Arizona, the United States, Deshaun Martinez, a little boy of six years died of starvation, locked in a closet by his parents. The drama took place in Flagstaff, about 150 miles from Phoenix, according to the media Central Arizona.
This is the grandmother of the little boy who alerted the police at the beginning of march, after having recovered his grandson unconscious. On remand, the firefighters were unable to revive him. The autopsy report, made public in recent days, is terrifying. The poor boy was skin and bones and weighed more than 8 kg at the time of his death. Either a weight significantly lower than that of a boy of his age. His body was, moreover, covered with bruises and injuries.
They face the death penalty
His parents and his grandmother have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, forcible confinement and child abuse on child. They pleaded all not guilty. At the outset, the parents of Deshaun have attributed to his state of severe malnutrition to a health problem, as well as the ingestion of diet pills and caffeine.
The boy had apparently struggled to gain weight during his first few years. But to the investigators, his parents have finally recognized the unspeakable : they have locked up Deshaun and his older brother in a closet, up to 16 hours per day for a month before his death. They were also deprived of food. An act disgraceful that they considered as a “punishment” so that the two brothers had recently recovered from food while their parents were sleeping.
The prosecutors in Arizona have until the end of July to decide if they will seek the death penalty, still applied in this State in the u.s. for the three suspects. The brother and sister of Deshaun, aged 2 and 4 years, were taken in charge by social services.
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