Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

A Turkish dad has been arrested for beating his toddler daughter to death when she refused to eat her meal and then threw it on the floor when he shouted at her.

Little Elif Hazal, who was just one and a half years old, died in hospital after her dad Mehmet Yilmaz, 30, reportedly beat her to death after she refused to eat in the Guneykent Neighborhood of the Turkish Gaziantep province on Sunday, 24th October.

The news site Yenicag reports that the little girl’s mum, Duygu Yilmaz, 27, was in hospital nursing Elif’s sibling who she gave birth to a month ago and Elif was left in the care of her dad.

According to Mehmet’s testimony to the police, he knew that his daughter was hungry, yet she still refused to eat.

He said that this made him extremely angry at the tot and he snapped and punched her several times.

He admitted that he had flown into a rage when she threw her food on the ground last Tuesday, 19th October.

Elif fell to the ground and showed no signs of life. Mehmet panicked and called the emergency services, telling them she tripped and hurt herself.

The tot was transferred to a local hospital where she was treated in the intensive care unit for four days before she died five days later, on 24th October.

An investigation was launched, and Mehmet was detained and questioned by the cops.

An autopsy was carried out on the tot at the Forensic Medicine Institute, and she was then handed over to her relatives for burial.

Yenicag reports that Duygu burst into tears when she saw the dead body of her toddler daughter.

The investigation is ongoing.