Mum confesses to killing premature baby by throwing infant into red-hot stove

14 November 2023 , 16:56

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According to reports, the mother had not been registered with a doctor or hospital (Image: Prosecutor's Office of the Primorsky Territory / east2west news)

A mother has confessed to shockingly throwing her newborn baby into a red-hot kitchen stove, according to Russian law enforcement.

Local reports say the the woman gave birth at home to her premature third child, with a murder probe now underway into the alleged tragic death in Olenevod village in the Primorsky region. The mother is currently the prime suspect, with criminal investigators pictured at the scene today. A source told RIA Novosti state news agency that she "burned her newborn in a stove."

‌Locals said the woman has given birth, but the villagers were yet to see the baby, who was born premature - after five months. A report citing the Russian Investigative Committee said: "[The mother] explained that she had a premature birth in the fifth month of pregnancy, and she got rid of the baby."

Locals said the woman has given birth, but the villagers were yet to see the baby (Prosecutor's Office of the Primorsky Territory / east2west news)

‌According to reports, the mother had not been registered with a doctor or hospital. Her two other children were in care. Russian law enforcement said she "confessed to the killing" after no trace of the baby was found in her home. Under Russian law, the woman could be jailed for up to five years if convicted of "murder of a newborn baby by a mother." The committee said it would examine "all versions of what happened."

‌This isn't the first time such an incident has occurred in Russia. In 2019, an 11-month-old baby was burned alive in a stove by his grandparents. The boy, Maxim Sagalakov, was left by his mother Viktoria, 20, in the care of her parents in the Khakassia district of Russia.

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When she returned, the distraught mum found the child’s charred remains in the stove of the family’s house in Kharoy village. A neighbour said the grandfather had been out and got drunk on vodka, and upon his return, the poor child was thrown into the stove.

At the time, the grandmother, 42, and grandfather, 47, were both under arrest. A criminal investigation was launched into the “deliberate murder of a helpless minor”, said law enforcement sources.

A statement from the regional Investigative Committee in charge of probing serious crime said: "The grandparents were drunk and killed the baby. A family member found the body of the boy badly damaged by the high temperature inside the stove.”

Zesha Saleem