Ukraine: Kid starves to death after being left at home without food for 6 days
Kiev: A toddler aged 23 months, starved to death and his two-year-old sister was left with her baby brother’s body for three days after their mother abandoned them in their flat to spend time with her lover for nine days.
According to a Daily Mail report, Vladislava Podchapko, 20, the mother of two, has been detained and faces up to eight years in prison for child neglect.
Her toddler son died of hunger six days after his mother left him with his two-year-old sister alone in their flat without any food.
The frightened children tried to escape from the flat, pulling and tearing at the front door. The neighbours were alarmed when they heard the children crying in the morning and evening, and called the police who failed to respond. The abandoned children could get no help and are believed to be found when their mother finally return and officers arrived.
The girl was rushed to the hospital soon and was miraculously saved on the point of death from starvation.
'The girl was exhausted, she was very weak. She was immediately taken into hospital where we started intravenous feeding,’ said a doctor involved in her treatment. 'She is better now and we can say that she will live. We have started her on tiny amounts of solid food.'
When police questioned about her neglect towards her own children, she said, 'I didn't know that children could die.' Podchapko, is believed to be pregnant with her third child by her boyfriend, or already a mother-of-three.
Podchapoko’s social media accounts are full of pictures of her children and messages of love to them. People on her Facebook have expressed their intense loathing for her neglect towards her children, calling her a 'sadist', 'evil' an 'animal' and telling her to 'burn in hell'
She did not appear to have been short of money, boasting about owning an iPhone 6. Nikolay Kuleba, Ukrainian children rights envoy said Podchapoko had taken her children out of kindergarten, but social services were reported to have failed to follow-up on any problems.
The children were from her previous marriage. Podchapoko’s two year old daughter, Anna’s future will be decided by social care workers. 'Perhaps she will be sent to an orphanage, or given for adoption, or if her father can look after her, she may go to him,' said a source.
