A dad who stabbed his one-year-old son to death on the child’s birthday told the court it was an accident and happened when he was trying to stab his wife instead.
Little Mohammad, who was wrapped in a blanket in his mum’s arms, died of the stab injury in Qarchak, a city in the Central District of Qarchak County, Tehran province, Iran, in April.
The boy’s father, who has been named only as Ahmed, from Afghanistan, was arrested and has now gone on trial.
A criminal court in Tehran heard how the dad had attacked his family members.
He had reportedly been angry that his wife Fatemeh had complained to the authorities about him.
Ahmed is said to have attacked his wife, his cousin, and other family members with a knife during the incident.
The defendant told the court that on the day of the killing, he had got into an argument with his wife Fatemeh.
He claimed that his cousin’s wife then hit him around the head with a stick, with blood then pouring down his face meaning that he could no longer see straight because he had blood in his eyes.
He said that he was attempting to stab his wife and had not realised that their fourth child, Mohammad, was in his mother’s arms at the time, according to local media.
He said that the family later went to hospital and that the following day he found out that his son had been stabbed and had died.
The defendant, reportedly sobbing and expressing his remorse in court, claimed that he did not want to kill his child and that it was his birthday that day, he had only been trying to stab his wife.
He said that the child’s mother had put him in a blanket and was about to put him to bed and that the knife hit his son’s body through the blanket.
He said that he did not notice that his son had been stabbed, and lamented that if it had been noticed sooner, he might have been saved.
The young boy’s aunt, who has not been named, told the court that the tot’s mother was forced to marry Ahmed, who was much older than her, and claimed he was a drug addict.
The court heard how the fight started after Fatemeh went to the police about Ahmed when he allegedly tried to force her to buy him drugs.
The trial is ongoing.
