The mother of a three-year-old girl who died from choking on her own vomit has been arrested over accusations that she tortured the child before her death in the basement together with her husband.

Father Sascha Wensing was arrested after handing himself in at a police station and confessing on 6th October.

The 39-year-old told cops in Dinslaken, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, that he had loaded down her body with weights before dumping her into the Rhine-Herne Kanal River in the nearby city of Oberhausen on 1st October.

Her body was retrieved by firefighters supported by police divers on 7th October.

Now cruel Sascha’s wife Maja Wensing has been put into custody too.

In a statement from 13th October obtained by Newsflash, a spokesman for the State Prosecution in Duisburg said: “The Duisburg Murder Department arrested the 39-year-old mother of the child in her apartment on 12th October.”

The statement continues: “The crime officer’s investigations regarding the child’s father brought strong evidence indicating that the parents jointly and deliberately tortured and eventually killed the child.”

Forensic examinations have shown that the girl, identified only as L. by local media, died from choking on her own vomit.

The couple, who reportedly planned to get divorced, are accused of locking the child into a small darkened room in the apartment building’s basement for several days to punish her.

Asked by local media whether no one saw anything suspicious or heard the child scream, a neighbour claimed: “No screams, no crying, no whining. We cannot understand it but we haven’t heard anything.”

Playground friends of the murdered child left pictures and cards featuring heartwrenching messages such as “Fly as high as you can!” and “We love you!” at the front porch of the housing estate.

Dinslaken Police have urged potential witnesses of the heinous crime to get in touch.

Maja Wensing and her husband, who have two more children, remain in preventive custody as the investigations continue.

Netizens have been horrified by the atrocious killing.

They flooded Maja Wensing’s Instagram account with comments such as “How dare you? RIP little girl.”

Her account, which says ‘Live your life!’ in her bio, mainly consists of selfies in which the suspect shows off her slim stature and defined muscles.

The postings feature hashtags such as #fitnessmom, #muscletraining, #fitnessjunkie, #fitmom and #strongwomen.

‘corneliafrickel’ commented: “Murderer! How can you be so cruel and kill and dump your own child? Disgusting!”

‘petraschwarm’ added: “She should have focused on looking after her three children rather than her fitness obsession.”

User ‘lineb.91’ asked: “How can you be so heartless as a mum? My heart is breaking. I hope you’re tormented by neverending nightmares.”