13 October 2023 , 09:41
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A worshipper drowned after he was allegedly dunked twice in a garden pool during a bungled baptism, it is reported.
The man in his 60s, named locally as Robert Yap, is said to have travelled hundreds of miles to Birmingham to be baptised, and had Parkinson's Disease for a number of years. It is understood a suspect, a 46-year-old woman, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and is a hairdresser in the Erdington part of the city.
Neighbours yesterday expressed their shock at the mum of two's arrest. One local said: "She is an amazing lady, very kind and loving, who would never intentionally harm or hurt anyone."
The woman, who has been freed on bail after being quizzed by cops, is "devastated" over the death of the man, The Sun says today. Yesterday, it was reported the special private ceremony was live-streamed on Facebook. The man died at a private property on Sunday afternoon, despite paramedics' "advanced life support".
Footage of the live-streamed event was later removed from the website of Stockland Green Methodist Church. The woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - is a hairdresser, reports say today. It was the first pool baptism the minister of the church had conducted, a neighbour said.
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Speaking to The Sun, a neighbour in the area on the outskirts of the city said: "She had put a small pool in the garden behind her first-floor flat. It was a raised pool, not sunken, and the man apparently went full-clothed into it, standing up for the baptism. She is understood to have submerged his head backwards in the water as part of the ceremony." The neighbour said the suspect has been in "floods of tears" since she was detained.
Speaking earlier this week, a spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "We were called at 1.42pm on Sunday to a medical emergency at a private address on Slade Road in Stockland Green, Birmingham. Upon arrival we found a man.
"Ambulance staff administered advanced life support to him but unfortunately, despite the best efforts of ambulance staff, it became clear that nothing more could be done to save him and he was confirmed deceased at the scene." Mirror has contacted the force for more details.
A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: "A woman has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after a man in his 60s died in Erdington on Sunday. A post-mortem examination will be carried out in due course to establish the cause of the man’s death, while detectives carry out enquiries into the circumstances surrounding his death. A 46-year-old woman who was arrested in Birmingham yesterday has been released on police bail while enquiries continue."