A 37-year-old man was arrested on Monday for alleged negligence after his Three-year-old daughter fell to her death in Johannesburg.
The child fell from the 12th floor window of their flat, on the corner of Jeppe and Von Weiligh street.
According to Captain Xoli Mbele, the Gauteng police spokesperson, the father allegedly went to work and left his sleeping daughter in the flat on 18 August, at around 19:00.
“The child fell down from the twelfth floor through the window. She was certified dead by the paramedics, “said Mbele.
Mbele said the father and his daughter lived with flatmates and they would usually look after the baby.
He said: “Usually, the flatmates would look after the child when the father was away. However, on that day, the flatmates were not there, and he thought it would be fine to go to work because she was still asleep.”
According to Mbele no one saw the events leading up to the incident, bit one neighbour called the father after the child had fallen to her death.
An investigation into the matter is currently underway and the father was expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on 30 August.
Brigadier Perumal, the Johannesburg Central Station Commander, advised parents not to leave their children alone and said the three-year-old’s death could have been avoided if her father left her with someone else.
Source: The South African, News24, image from The South African: Pixabay
