A mother allegedly hacked her five-year-old son to death with a machete at their home in Egypt before boiling and eating part of his head.
The woman, named only as Hanaa, 29, was arrested by police after Youssef’s horrified uncle found the little boy’s body parts in buckets at the family home in the village of Abu Shalabi.
She confessed to police that she had eaten part of her son’s head because she ‘wanted him to stay with her together’, local media reports.
Hanaa allegedly killed her unsuspecting son with four blows to the head before butchering his body in the bathroom.
Then she allegedly cooked his head and other parts of his flesh in boiling water on the stove before eating them.
After her arrest, she claimed to the police in Faqus, northern Egypt, that she ‘suffers from a mental illness’ and had not intended to kill her son.
She and Youssef had been living alone after she separated from her husband, who insists she knew exactly what she was doing.
The ex-husband, identified only by his initials H.A., told local media: ‘When I arrived, the police prevented me from seeing my son because of the horrific scene.
‘We separated from each other four years ago because she had land from her father and asked me to leave the house and my family and go with her to live on the land.
‘But I refused, and the relationship ended entirely by her will, and I tried to reconcile with her after the divorce, but she refused and stuck to her opinion.’
He added: ‘My son was the one who kept me connected to her, and I used to see him regularly and bring him clothes and things he needed.
‘But recently she was trying to keep him away from me and plant hatred towards me in his heart, so he wouldn’t come to me.
‘I was trying to communicate with her family to see my son and make sure he was OK.’
According to his lawyer, Samir Mohamed Saleh, the suspect was stone-faced when she told her questioners: ‘I wanted to free him and myself.
‘I wanted to take revenge against his father and be free. His father keeps coming and trying to take him away all the time.’
The Public Prosecution Office said in a statement that the suspect had been detained and that she will undergo a psychiatric assessment.
