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Russia stunned by story of 7-year-old girl
‘tortured’ for months by aunt
Even doctors couldn’t hold back tears after a seven-year-old girl with countless bruises, burns and bites all over her body, was delivered to them. The child had been allegedly tortured for months by her own aunt.
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Footage from a medical examination at a hospital in the southern Republic of Ingushetia has shocked Russia after being uploaded online earlier this week. “This is a phlycten [internal abscess]; look, this is a bite and those are scars – old and new ones. This hand is cold, it could be amputated,” one of the doctors says in the clip. “It’s like a horror movie,” his colleague added off-screen, commenting on the terrible state of their young patient.
Aisha was brought to hospital by her aunt, who claimed that the child was injured after falling into a cesspit a week before that. She also explained that the girl had also sustained burns earlier on, from accidentally sitting on a hot pot cooking soup.
The woman only sought medical help after it became clear that her niece Aisha couldn’t move her arms on her own anymore. The improvised bandages she’d put on the child’s hands only worsened her condition, causing vascular occlusion and putting the child’s left hand at risk of amputation. The girl was swiftly sent for surgery after further tests showed that her left arm was broken and gangrene had developed in the right one.
Police didn’t believe the aunt’s explanations and detained her on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm to a minor. The 35-year-old denied any wrongdoing, insisting that it was all an accident. The court later ruled that she be placed in custody for two months, pending an investigation. Her own two sons, who didn’t manifest any signs of abuse, were also taken into protective custody.
The gruesome details of what is, on the face of it, child abuse, have shocked not only the urban residence and the town the family lived in, but also the whole country.
The media discovered that the woman had already served time for causing grievous bodily harm in the past. She was also raising her niece Aisha without any of the proper paperwork. The girl’s father had been granted custody over the child after a divorce, but had left her with his sister while he traveled for work.
Questions are now being asked how child welfare services could have missed the case. Neighbors told RT that they never heard any screams or other alarming noises coming from the house of Aisha’s aunt. Many added that they never knew a girl was living there, as they’d only seen the boys outside.
The surgery on Aisha went on for three hours and doctors remained hopeful that they could save her arm. Local bloggers who visited her in her ward, said that the girl was feeling happy at the hospital despite her poor state. She clearly wasn’t used to being cared-about, as doctors and nurses brought her chocolate and ice cream.
Ingushetia’s child ombudswoman, Zarema Chakhieva, described Aisha as “the kindest child,” who tries to answer positively to all questions. Chakhieva told RT that the girl sometimes remembers the torture, but also says that she still loves her aunt.
On Friday, the girl was flown to Moscow to the clinic of Russia’s top child surgeon, Leonid Roshal. There, a detailed check revealed traces of old rib fractures and injuries to the spine, but Roshal said that Aisha wouldn’t require any new operations.
Russia’s human rights ombudswoman, Tatyana Moskalkova, has called what happened to Aisha a “flagrant” case of domestic violence and vowed to closely monitor the girl’s case. She also urged to introduce a federal law tackling abuse in the family.
Young boy wounded protecting mom from drunken ex-con dies not knowing she abandoned him
Ivan Krapivin © VK.com Группа памяти Крапивина Ивана
Heroic teenager, Ivan Krapivin, who received horrific head wounds in an attempt to protect his mom from a drunken neighbor, has died in hospital after over a year in a coma. He never learned that his mother gave up on him.
Ivan’s story has touched the hearts of many across Russia after being aired on state TV. Numerous people raised money and offered their assistance to facilitate the boy’s recovery, but the miracle everybody hoped for was not to happen.
“Ivan departed into a better world today. It’s impossible to accept this or be ready for this,” the sad message, which appeared in a social media group dedicated to the teen on Tuesday, read.
The boy from the northern city of Severodvinsk has been fighting for his life since May last year when a drunken party, involving his mother and her shared apartment neighbor, ended in a tragedy. There was a quarrel and the former convict attacked the woman with a dumbbell and a knife, delivering her several stab wounds.
14-year-old Ivan rushed to his mom’s rescue without any hesitation, but he was no match for the grown man, who already served time for murder. The brave boy collapsed after receiving three heavy blows to his head with a dumbbell.
Ivan was taken to hospital in regional capital Archangelsk and then transferred to Saint Petersburg. The young hero underwent several surgeries and miraculously survived, but the damaged done to his health was immense. The teen was missing the front of his skull; had part of his brain removed, while one of his eyes was dented.
The police detained the attacker and he went to trial on charges of attempted murder of two people. The judges sentenced him to 14.5 years in prison and ordered to pay a compensation of 1 million rubles (around $15,000) to his victims.
Ivan’s story was already heartbreaking, but it somehow got even worse. Several months later, the media revealed that the teen’s mother, who recovered from her wounds, has given up on her son and never visited him in hospital.
She was eventually deprived of her parental rights, while the custody over Ivan was given to his older brother.
The woman later appeared on a prime-time talk show on Rossiya 1 and asked the audience to forgive her. She confessed to having problems with alcohol and said she was ready to go to rehab.
Despite Ivan’s death, Russia’s Investigative Committee said that it’ll continue its probe into the incident so that all those responsible face punishment. The investigations have some serious questions for child services, district police, and corrections officers, who somehow allowed a woman with an underage child to live under the same roof with a former convict. The family was housed in a shared apartment after their shabby home was demolished as part of a renovation program.
If only parents and caregivers were half as heroic as children...
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