A Turkish footballer has been arrested after confessing to killing his 5-year-old because he hated him.
Defender Cevher Toktas, 32, who played in Turkey’s Super Lig between 2007 and 2009, was arrested earlier this month after his five-year-old son, Kasim, died at Dortcelik Children’s Hospital in the city of Bursa.
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According to reports, Cevher Toktas admitted his son to a local hospital on April 23 after he had a cough and a high fever. The doctors at the hospital immediately quarantined the boy and the father, as the 5-year-old showed symptoms of coronavirus.
Later in the day, Toktas called the attention of the doctors to the room and said the boy was having difficulty breathing. The doctors rushed the boy to the intensive care unit, but he passed away less than two hours later.
Due to the respiratory problems the boy was admitted with, the hospital ruled the death as being caused by coronavirus.
However, 11 days after the incident, Toktas went to a local police station and admitted to suffocating the boy with a pillow while they were alone in the hospital room.
Toktas confessed: “I pressed a pillow on my son who was lying on his back.
“For 15 minutes, I pressed down on the pillow without lifting it up. My son was struggling during that time.
After he stopped moving, I lifted the pillow. Then I yelled for doctors to help to draw any suspicions away from me.”
When asked about his motive, Toktas said he killed his son because he simply “didn’t love him.”
“I never loved my younger son after he was born. I don’t know why I don’t love him. The sole reason why I killed him that day is because I didn’t like him. I don’t have any mental issues,” he said.
The authorities have filed for a court order requesting the exhumation of the boy for further investigation to confirm the footballers story.