Law enforcement officers have detained a 38-year-old resident of Brovary, Kyiv region. According to the case materials, her inaction led to the death of her young son. The woman tried to hide his death and hid the body in a closet.
This was reported by the press service of the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office on May 5.
Investigators determined that a 38-year-old unemployed woman lived with her two sons, ages 11 and 2, in Brovary. The children's father serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“The woman was not registered with a narcologist or psychiatrist, but she periodically abused alcohol and underwent a course of treatment with antidepressants,” the prosecutor's office said.
According to law enforcement, on the evening of April 23, her 2-year-old son became unwell. Realizing that the child needed urgent medical attention, the woman did not call an ambulance and did not even try to help the boy herself. After some time, the child died in his mother's bed. After that, the woman tried to hide her son's death: she placed the boy's body in a box and hid it in her bedroom closet.
The body of a child whose mother hid it in a closet. Kyiv Region Police/Telegram
“After that, for several days in a row, the woman lied to her relatives that the child was allegedly in the hospital with drug poisoning. The body was discovered by law enforcement officers after the grandmother, unable to find her grandson at the medical facility, raised the alarm. The child's mother justified this act by saying that she did not want to give up and bury her son,” the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The woman was detained and reported on suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code: Part 3 of Article 135 – leaving a person in danger, which caused the death of a person; Article 166 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – malicious failure to fulfill parental duties to care for a child, which led to serious consequences. The suspect faces up to 8 years in prison. The court chose a preventive measure for the woman – detention in custody.
The cause of death of the boy, who would have turned 3 in July, is being determined. The older child is currently in the care of relatives.
“Separately, the prosecutor's office will provide a legal assessment of the actions of social service officials and will check whether they took all necessary measures to protect the children who lived in this family in a timely manner. If facts of official negligence are established, the issue of bringing the perpetrators to justice will be resolved,” the report states.