The father of the child who died after being forgotten in a vehicle (identified by his last name Arias, of 42 years of age), presented himself before the Fiscalía de Alajuela with his lawyer, to face whatever charges await him.
However, the Ministerio Público (prosecutor’s office) has yet to decide what offence to charge the man, preferring to continue its investigation first and wait the final results of the autopsy.
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“Not to judge, but no matter how many things in have my head, I can forget my keys, cell etc. but a child! A piece of my life in my heart! I think not“, writes Mariela Melendez Cespedes on Facebook.
[/one_third]The Ministerio Público said on Thursday that the man could face charges of murder of the child, but that may change as the investigation goes deep into what happened.
According to the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), there is no sign of past physical abuse. The director of the OIJ, Francisco Segura, said that preliminary results from Forensic experts rules out any signs of abused child syndrome.
“We have to wait 20 days for the complete medical examiner’s report (autopsy)”, said Segura.
The director explained that his agents have been collecting evidence, including video footage of the parking lot, and witness statements as in any other murder investigation.
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“…another explanation would be murder, but simple oversight, never!“, writes Eve Sequeira Brenes on Facebook.
[/one_third]The lawyer for the child’s father, Boris Acosta, said, “the prosecutors understand this was an accident; what they did was take a formal statement and allowed my client to go free to deal with the funeral arrangements. He will provide a statement at a later date”.
Alajuela prosecutor, Edwin Retana, confirmed that the man came in voluntarily and is willing to undergo the process. “We have to confirm the actual circumstances of how it all happened. It will be a very thorough investigation”, said Retana.
This is the first case of what has been coined in the United States and other countries as “forgotten baby syndrome”. It seems unthinkable, but lots of busy parents do it with devastating consequences. In the U.S. alone an average of 15 such cases are reported each year.
According to authorities, on Tuesday, the man had agreed with the child’s mother to take the baby to daycare before going back to his office. But he forgot about the child, leaving the baby locked in the car with the windows rolled up, in the hot afternoon sun and a temperature of 29 degrees Celsius (84 F).
After three hours he went to the vehicle to pick up some papers, and realized he had forgotten his son. He took him to the Alajuela hospital, and was immediately transferred to the Children’s hospital in San José, were the seven month old child died Thursday morning.
