According to the Mandalay police force, a 3-year-old child was found being forced to get into a trash bag by a 12-year-old kid. However, the authorities are assessing the 12-year-old’s mental health before pressing any charges.
“After examining the child who kept repeating the same thing, we suspect him of being mentally ill. We found out that his mother had also suffered from mental illness before her death, and we do not know the identity of his father”, said U Thein Zaw, the chief of the Mandalay police division, reports Eleven.
“We were initially going to open a case against him, but then we discovered his personal history. The administrator of the ward where the child resides also guaranteed that there had never before been a child abduction or any other suspicious activity in that area. Taking all of this into account, the child will be under the supervision of an employee of the Department of Social Welfare and will continue to be monitored before any further action is taken.”
It was revealed that the 12-year-old regularly collected trash around the Mahaaungmye area. He used a toy to lure the 3-year-old, whose parents worked at a nearby teashop.
The older child made the younger one follow him from 86th street, to the corner of 35th and 36th streets, and then to the Shweta Chaung drain, where he told the kid to get in the trash bag.
The 3-year-old refused and started crying. This caught the attention of passersby, who alerted the township’s general administration department and put the children in a car. The two were then brought back into the city.
“If it turns out that he is not mentally ill, then we will proceed with opening a case against him”, confirmed U Thein Zaw.
The authorities have located the 3-year-old’s parents and reunited them with their child.
