The 32-year-old Turkish footballer Cevher Toktas admitted to killing his own son on 23 April with the boy apparently suffering from coronavirus.
Kasim, the son of Toktas, was brought to the Dortcelik Children’s Hospital in Bursa on Thursday, April 23 by his father for difficulties breathing and a high fever. Doctors, suspecting a case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), placed both father and son in quarantine – a decision that seemingly cost Kasim his life.
Hours later, Turkish media reported that the elder Toktas informed hospital staff that Kasim was struggling to breathe. The boy was taken to intensive care but died.
The disease, which has infected more than 141,000 and killed thousands in that country, was believed to be the cause of Kasim’s death so the case was closed and the toddler buried in a makeshift grave.
The story takes a dark turn when 11 days later Toktas turned himself in to local police with a bombshell confession: coronavirus didn’t kill Kasim, he did.
In the police report, Toktas admits to suffocating his son “with a pillow over the head for fifteen minutes” until he died, before calling a doctor into the room. He said he had “never loved” his son and murdered him after having a nervous breakdown in the hospital room, but later confessed after feeling remorse.
Kasim was buried in a makeshift grave shortly after his death but authorities now want his body exhumed in order for an autopsy to take place as part of the ongoing investigation.
