The Saratov Region Office of the Investigative Committee has finished the investigation against 22-year-old resident of the city of Saratov charged with crimes under Part 2, items “c” and “e” of Article 105 (murder of a minor committed with heightened cruelty), Part 2, items “d”, “e” and “f” of Article 117 of the RF Penal Code (torture of a minor) and against his girlfriend charged with crimes under Part 2, items “d”, “e” and “f” of Article 117 (torture of a minor), Article 125 of the RF Penal Code (endangerment).
Investigators have revealed that in January 2016, a 26-year-old woman from Rostov Region and her 7-year-old son arrived in Saratov and moved to a house in Kirovsky District with the 22-year-old man whom he had dated online.
Almost at once after the moving, the step-father and mother started raising the boy by their own “method”: they beat him and tortured regularly for six months. The couple beat him many times with hands and with a belt or made him kneel on split peas scattered on the floor with hands tied up behind his back.
From 14 to 18 March 2016, the step-father moved on to more brutal actions, and started beating the boy with anything he could lay his hands on wanting to get rid of the child for good.
The mother did not help her son who was struggling for his life and health. The woman could help her son and was obliged to do that, including by applying to a hospital and reporting everything what was happening to the police.
Only on the morning of 18 March 2016, when the child stopped showing any signs of life, the couple decided to call an ambulance, who arrived and pronounced the boy dead.
According to the results of forensic medical examinations, the boy’s body had traces of more than 100 kinds of physical effects inflicted on the boy only days before his death. The boy died of a blunt force multitrauma to his body with hemorrhaging under the brain cortex, brain injury and kidney injury.
The man and woman were placed in custody during the preliminary investigation. They charged their mind about the charges several times, but when the man read the case materials and saw the irrefutable evidence, he admitted that he had beaten the boy, while the mother stopped denying that she had endangered her own son. A psychiatric assessment found that both of them were sane and were perfectly capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of their actions.
It should be noted that the couple committed their crimes against the child while there was nobody who could confirm that they were guilty, however, the psychological contact set between the investigator and the accused, well-planned tactics of interviews and face-to-face interrogations, results of a forensic DNA test of objects confiscated from the crime scene and a set of other investigative operations allowed establishing their guilt.
During the preliminary probe, the investigators filed motions with the Saratov Region social services requesting to eliminate reasons and conditions that had contributed to the crime caused by lack of oversight of the family.
The investigators have enough evidence, so the criminal case with the signed indictment has been referred to court.
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