Man throws stepson out of apartment window after the 5-year-old wanted to sit on his lap during favorite show
A child is fighting for his life after his stepfather "threw him out of their apartment window for disturbing his TV show." The five-year-old boy, identified only as Sergey, had to be placed in intensive care with a fractured skull as a result of the disturbing incident in Ukraine.
According to a report by The Sun, the boy had just woken up after having an afternoon nap when he approached his stepfather asking if he could sit on his lap while he was watching TV. In response, the 39-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, reportedly “pushed the child away."
The young boy, according to the report, approached his stepfather once again and asked him the same thing. This enraged the man to such an extent that he grabbed hold of the child and hurled him out of the window of their home in an apartment block.
Local reports revealed how the boy landed on the tarmac headfirst and neighbors were horrified as they saw his head bleeding profusely.
“I heard the sound of broken glass then sobbing. When I looked out of my window, I saw the boy," Inna Bieva, who lives nearby, said. “He was lying on the tarmac and bleeding. He had a huge cut on his head. I called an ambulance and the police.”
Witnesses told news outlets that Sergey's mother carried the gravely injured child home before paramedics could arrive at the scene. Shockingly, she tried to cover up the incident upon their arrival. In fact, the mother refused to let emergency services into the apartment to examine the child.
Police officers, however, managed to enter the family's ground floor flat through the broken window and brought the youngster to safety.
“The boy’s condition is severe. He sporadically regains consciousness then passes out again and is under constant monitoring," said Natalia Bigari, the head of the Second Kyiv Regional Children’s Hospital. “He has closed head injury, fractures to his skull, abdominal injuries, cuts and bruises all over his body.”
The stepfather, whose identity is yet to be revealed, reportedly fled the scene just moments after the incident. However, law enforcement was able to track him down and arrest him within an hour. The man, who is currently remanded in custody, is now facing an attempted murder investigation following the incident.
“The stepfather was watching a TV show when the boy asked to take him on his lap. After being distracted, the man went into a rage and threw the child out of the window," Police spokeswoman Alina Zadorozhna recounted to the press. According to The Sun, Sergey has a twin brother who saw the entire episode unfold in front of his eyes.
If convicted, the suspect faces up to 15 years in prison on related charges.
This comes just days after a California stepmother was charged with torture and child abuse following the death of a seven-year-old girl in her home. 38-year-old Takiesha Williams was arrested in connection with the May 23 death of her stepdaughter Billie Williams in Stockton, California.
According to a Change.org petition calling for Takiesha's arrest that was created before she was taken into custody, four police officers who responded to the home allegedly found the youngster covered in bruises and other injuries. While authorities are yet to elaborate on the charges, the seven-year-old child was subjected to "unjustifiable physical pain and mental suffering," according to the Superior Court of California in San Joaquin County.
Billy Dee Williams, the deceased child's biological father, was also arrested and arraigned in court on May 27 on one count of felony torture and six counts of felony child abuse in connection with the seven-year-old's death. Investigators are yet to reveal why Takiesha's arrest came almost three weeks after Billy's.