A mother has been arrested for strangling her two-year-old son to death after she was tipped off by the authorities that she had lost custody of the child to the boy’s father.
The dad had reportedly feared that his ex-partner would harm the child, which prompted him to contact the authorities.
And while the authorities acted quickly, they are said to have given the mother the news of their decision to award the father custody by telephone, allegedly giving her enough time to murder the toddler.
This is despite the father’s attempts to stress that he believed the boy’s mother to be of unsound mind.
The incident took place in Parque Patricios, which is a neighbourhood in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, when the toddler, who has been named as Milo Alexander Derto, was declared dead on arrival at the Parque Patricios Hospital on Saturday morning, 15th January.
He reportedly died of suffocation, according to preliminary data.
Felipe Derto, the boy’s heartbroken father, age unclear, said: “I can’t believe my son is dead.”
The father and his side of the family allege that the mother, who has been named as Paola Guerrero, age not reported, murdered little Milo because she could not stand the fact that she was losing custody of their child to him.
Felipe said: “Thursday was the last time I saw Milo.”
On Friday, 14th January, he asked for help from the Office of Domestic Violence (OVD), saying: “I asked them to do a psychological test on the mother and the child.”
The same day, the authorities notified the mother about the complaint the father had registered against her, and they informed her that they were temporarily giving him custody of the child.
A few hours later, Milo was dead.
The mother reportedly sent Felipe a text message saying “you put me in the shit with everything you said”.
Felipe later received a phone call informing him that his son was dead.
Felipe said: “He left this world without having committed a single sin.”
The police have searched the suspect’s home and arrested her. It is currently unclear if she had been charged at the time of writing.
The police investigation into the alleged killing is ongoing.
