Parents indicted for negligence in toddler’s death

An Istanbul court accepted a prosecutor's indictment demanding six years in prison for parents of a toddler who was found dead hours after he went missing.

The prosecutor called upon the court to sentence the mother and father of 3.5-year-old Pamir Dikdik to six years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. The parents are accused of neglecting the care of the boy who left home while his parents were asleep and was found in the pool of an adjacent house where he drowned.

The indictment stated that the boy also went missing a couple of days before his death and the family neglected to take measures to prevent a repeat of his disappearance. The child had left the house in Istanbul's Sarıyer district in April 2014 through an unlocked door.

Public Prosecutor Levent Çağıl prepared an indictment on the case and demanded a prison term of up to six years for the boy's mother, Süverce Dikdik, for "causing of death by recklessness." The prosecutor dismissed charges for the father while claiming that the mother was primarily responsible for the care of the boy. After the court rejected this initial indictment, Çağıl prepared another one also pressing charges against the father, Serdar Dikdik.

The prosecutor claimed the parents failed to ensure proper care for the child. According to the indictment based on testimonies, the boy woke up in the early hours of the morning and went to his parents' bedroom. He then grabbed a tablet computer and played games until his parents woke up to give him biscuits and chocolate. The parents then went back to sleep, ignoring the boy.