A TWISTED couple has been jailed for 20 years after torturing their toddler daughter to death in a coffin-like box.…....
The Russian pair, Ekaterina O., 29 and Ilya A., 31, were convicted of torture, illegal imprisonment and the murder of their 2-year-old, Sonya, with “particular cruelty”.
Unwilling to care for their young child, the pair constructed a “small box with a lid” – resembling a coffin – and repeatedly locked her inside for up to two days and nights at a time over a five-month period.
“The child was unable to move, stand upright, or even sit,” the Khabarovsk Regional Court was told.
Prosecutors described how to couple kept their daughter trapped in filthy, airless conditions, neglecting even the most basic care.
“The cohabitants neglected the child’s care and hygiene, keeping her in unsanitary conditions,” said a report of the hearing.
They “deprived the girl of food and water, or fed her minimal amounts, resulting in the child’s death from severe protein-energy malnutrition.”
The appalling abuse lasted for months – with the cruelty escalating as the little girl grew weaker.
The couple, from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, admitted their crimes in court.
In a chilling statement, they claimed their “unplanned” daughter “irritated them with her movements around the one-room apartment”, which measured just 28 square metres.
“Sonya was an unwanted child, and her parents – a 27-year-old woman and her 29-year-old husband – devised a way to get rid of her,” reported NTV channel’s ChP outlet.
“They made a ‘coffin’ for the little girl – a cramped box with a lid.
“In it, the child could neither straighten up nor even sit properly.
“The girl was hardly ever washed, and in recent months, they stopped regularly giving her food and water.”
By the time she died, Sonya weighed less than 10kg, having wasted away under months of starvation.
