Toddler dies choking on vomit after nursery teacher ties pillow around her face to stop her from crying
A nursery teacher has allegedly killed a toddler after she tied a pillow around her crying face “causing her to suffocate”. Irina Sukhanova from Ukraine has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of one-year-old Alesya, said law enforcement. The incident reportedly happened on May 29.
The 51-year-old suspect claimed that she was trying to stop the victim from crying on her first trial day at a private nursery after she was bitten by another child. But police said Alesya suffocated from her own vomit because her face was covered. The toddler died from “gastric obstruction of the respiratory tract”.
It was also said that instead of calling someone for help or an ambulance, Sukhanova tried to remove CCTV evidence from the nursery. Police, however, later managed to restore the video proof. The footage has not been shared due to its graphic nature.
According to reports, during an extraordinary courtroom confrontation during Sukhanova’s custody hearing in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, the accused denied killing Alesya in front of her heartbroken parents. “I did not kill your child,” she claimed in the courtroom.
Sukhanova’s claim left the toddler’s father, Eduard Gak, 24, in disbelief as he asked her: “Did not kill? I saw how you did not kill.” To which the accused replied, “You will understand…” Gak then tells her: “Shut your mouth”.
At the hearing, Alesya’s mother, 23-year-old Alina, said: “It was just the first trial visit to the nursery. By phone she [Irina] assured me everything was good, and to look at testimonials about her. We really checked them.” The mother added: “How could she put the child asleep like this when she was vomiting?”
On the other hand, Gak said, “My wife came home at about 10 am, and suddenly got a call saying ‘Your child is not breathing’.” Gak said he immediately rushed to the nursery and tried artificial respiration on Alesya, but it did not help and then he called an ambulance.
“She was only slightly warm. It doesn’t fit into my head what happened. Can you imagine what I saw? I cannot explain my emotions when I saw this... I can’t find the words. My only wish is to do the same to her, to take this pillow and... I can’t say it another way,” the grieving father said as reported by The Sun.
However, Sukhanova in her defense said: “It was a special bolster for the child, so if she falls, she would not injure her neck. It was only to protect the child, nothing more.” The teacher has been detained on suspicion of murder and is also investigated for running an illegal nursery.
Meanwhile, Teymur Mamedov, the lawyer for Alesya’s parents said, “Before the arrival of detectives, she removed the surveillance camera recordings from the hard drives, and hid the (pillow). She undressed the child and tried to hide other traces of the crime."
“The seized video and investigations prove the involvement of the owner of an illegal nursery school in the commission of a particularly serious intentional crime... the murder of a minor,” said senior police officer Oleh Hryhorov.
It has been reported that a full-scale criminal investigation is now underway into the case.