Pic shows: Cops investigating at the murder scene. Rescue workers who found the charred remains of a 2-year-old girl on a barbecue are investigating whether she was burned alive by her mother. The child was found by firefighters and cops on Sunday evening when neighbours saw smoke coming out of a garage in Zemst, a town just to the North of the Belgian capital of Brussels. The rescue workers found the remains of a young child, with over three quarters of her body fully charred, on a barbecue. According to local media, the neighbours heard the child scream shortly before the start of the fire. The 27-year-old mother allegedly told cops at the scene: "We both had to burn alive, only this way we will enter heaven together." The mother, who according to the cops has African roots but whose name was not reported due to privacy reasons, was taken to a hospital with severe carbon monoxide poisoning. Due to her physical and mental state she has not yet been interrogated by police investigators. She has however been arrested in the hospital on suspicion of murder. The police and public prosecutor's office is now investigating whether the girl was already dead before she was put on the barbecue or whether she was burned alive in the fire. An autopsy on the young girl has already been performed, although the prosecutor's office of Halle-Vilvoorde have not yet made the results public. According to psychiatrist Hans Hellebuyck, it is "hard to estimate" what exactly goes through peoples' minds in cases like this. He said that if the mother did indeed say that she started the fire because only the soul of cremated bodies enter heaven, could be a sign of psychiatric problems. Hellebuyck said: "If the woman made such remarks and truly meant them, it is possible that she is mentally ill. I am not saying it is like that, but it is something which has to be taken into account." (ends)
A 27-year-old mother was arrested in Belgium after she reportedly cooked her 2-year-old daughter on a barbecue alive as part of a suicide bid.
The African descent woman was arrested in the Zemst town, which is located north of Brussels, in Belgium.
Neighbors called the authorities after they heard a girl screaming and seeing smoke coming out from the garage door.
Upon arriving, the police saw the woman cooking her own daughter alive on a charcoal grill.
When the police arrived, the remains of the child were fully burned.
When the police arrived at the scene, the woman told them “We both had to burn. That was the only way we could go to heaven together.”
According to the neighbors of the woman, the woman was depressed after she got divorced.
The woman was living with her mother when she burned the baby.
But the mother of the unnamed woman was not in the house when the incident happened.
Due to the mental state of the mother, the police did not interview the mother right away.
Hans Hellebuyck, a psychiatrist, said it is very hard to predict what goes through peoples’ minds in incidents like these.
The mother reportedly told the police that she started the fire because the soul only enters heaven if a body is cremated.
Hans said, “If the woman made such remarks and truly meant them, it is possible that she is mentally ill. I am not saying it is like that, but it is something which has to be taken into account.”