A tiny baby is fighting for her life after being found in an emaciated state inside her mum’s wardrobe.
The child, named Katya, was living off water and random scraps of food fed to her by her 13-year-old brother after her mother allegedly tried to keep her birth a secret, reports in Russia claim.
She is said to have been found during a birthday party by a friend of the 37-year-old mother, who “heard a muted cry”.
The mum kept the birth of her third child secret, according to reports.
She put the baby girl in a duffle sport bag inside a wardrobe in an empty room in her flat.
Her mum had “hoped that the baby would pass away from starvation” after she was born in April, reported online news outlet Krasnoturyinsk Live, which revealed the horrifying case.
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The girl, from Karpinsk, was airlifted to hospital to the regional capital of Yekaterinburg where she is now in intensive care.
The mother, named in reports only as ‘Yulia’ has been detained and a criminal case opened by the Russian Investigative Committee into allegations she “tortured” the child, which carries a penalty of up to seven years in jail.
Sverdlovsk regional police spokesman Valery Gorelykh said: “It is hard to believe in this horrendous story, but however difficult it is to say this, it is true.”
Officers “went to check out the flat after receiving information about this case,” he said.
“They found the starving baby and organised her urgent transportation to hospital where doctors are fighting for her life.”
The child was suffering from severe malnutrition, authories said.
The baby was heard by a friend attending the 13th birthday party for Yulia’s son, who had secretly fed the child.
“She wanted to kill the baby but in the end didn’t have enough heart for it,” alleged a source familiar with the case.
“She thought that perhaps the baby would die from starvation.
“She was found by accident.
“The mother was having a birthday drink with a friend, who asked why one of the rooms in her flat was always shut.”
Yulia said it was used for storage.
“A young woman who was there for the party heard a very weak, muted cry, and asked the mother about it.
“‘I think it’s just a doll there, it just cries by itself’, the mother answered.
“One of friends who went for a cigarette in the middle of the party decided to check that room after hearing the cry.
“She opened the wardrobe, looked in the bag and found the baby.”
A family friend: “People who know Yulia struggle to believe that she did it.
“Her son knew about the baby, but as I understand it she threatened him not to say a word about it.
Source: Mirror
