Kerala: Deranged man stabs 10-year-old 17 times

Kochi: A 10-year old boy was stabbed over 17 times by his neighbour, described to be mentally unstable by cops, while returning from a nearby shop after buying groceries early Tuesday, sending shock waves across the Pullepady colony and nearby areas here.

The gruesome incident happened at 7 am when Risty John, a Class IV student of St Alberts School and a resident of Parapally House, Krishna Swamy Cross Road, Pullepady, was returning to his home after buying eggs through the narrow deserted lane.

Suddenly accused Aji Devassia (40), walked in from the opposite direction and attacked the boy without any provocation. The only eyewitness Ani Jose, a middle-aged homemaker who was collecting drinking water from the public tap along the lane, made a hue and cry seeing the boy getting stabbed repeatedly.

Soon residents rushed in and chased the attacker and beat him up before handing him over to police.

“At first, it seemed to me that he was embracing the boy. As the kid fell, I realised to my shock that the boy was being stabbed. I shouted at the top of my voice but he continued to stab the boy in his neck and face. The poor kid couldn’t even cry,” said Ms Jose, whose younger son is a close friend of the victim.

The boy’s parents rushed in as the news spread and it was his mother Lini who took out the knife from his neck. His father John, an autorickshaw driver, rushed his son to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Later the autopsy report said the boy suffered a total of 27 injuries, including 17 stab wounds on his neck and face.

“We’d earlier received complaints from Aji’s mother Petrissa of him becoming violent at the house and have admitted him to a mental hospital at Thrissur. He was released only a week back after the hospital authorities said he was completely cured. We’re probing the exact reason behind the attack,” city police commissioner M. P. Dinesh said.

However, locals claimed that the accused was addicted to liquor and drugs. The cops too admit the accused had taken treatment for de-addiction in the past.

“His mother had earlier given a complaint to the police. His brother has left the house too. He used to watch the children playing games and on many occasions we found him lying unconscious in an inebriated state. There were also reports of him throwing stones at passers-by on Monday evening. For the past ten years or so he was not going to any work,” said Thomas, a resident, also an autorickshaw driver.

Aji’s house was located just opposite to the victim’s house separated by the main railway track.

Cops booked him under IPC Sec 302 (murder) and a court remanded him to judicial custody and lodged him in Ernakulam sub-jail.