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CHILD MURDER

Father denies murdering two-year-old son

A man is in custody on suspicions of murdering his two-year-old son in Huskvarna in western Sweden on Saturday night. The man denies all charges.

A remand hearing will be held for the man on Wednesday.

The two-year-old boy’s father is being held on suspicion of murder with an alternative charge of manslaughter. Initial police reports confirmed only that he was a “near relative” of the deceased boy. Police on Tuesday confirmed that the man was in fact the boy’s father, confirming rumours that had been in wide circulation.

No motive has as yet been established.

“We do not have a motive at the moment. Before we receive the results from the forensic autopsy of the we can not say anything,” said Lennart Wennblom at Jönköping police to news agency TT.

The forensic results are expected on Wednesday afternoon.

The detained father was interrogated on Tuesday evening and repeated his denial of the murder charges against him.

“My client denies the offence. I am not at liberty to divulge anything else that he has said about the charges,” said the man’s counsel Anders Tolke.

The two-year-old boy died on Saturday night. According to Jönköpings-Posten a woman in a neighbouring apartment rang the police just before 1am.

Shortly before the call the neighbour had heard screams and shouts and seen the mother run into the garden with the child in her arms. The child was then rushed in an ambulance to Ryhov hospital and was declared deceased shortly after arrival.

The father does not have a previous criminal record. He has however been charged previously for an alleged assault of the woman who is the mother of his two-year-old son. The man did not appear in court and the charges were then dropped.

The couple have previously lived together but are now separated.

“He has no fixed address, that is why it is so difficult to get hold of him,” said Lennart Wennblom.