QALQILIA, January 11, 2017 (WAFA) – Police arrested a father and a stepmother from a small village south of Qalqilia in the northern West Bank and charged them with the murder of their 5-year-old son, police spokesman Lieutenant Loay Izreqat said on Wednesday.

He said the parents brought their son Ayham Jamal Quzmar to hospital claiming he had fallen from a high place.

The boy was dead before he was taken to hospital, said Izreqat.

Following an autopsy at Abu Dis Forensic Institute, the father and stepmother were arrested and charged with murder of their son, he said.

The stepmother confessed during interrogation that she had beaten and pushed the boy leading to his death. She also confessed to trying to hide the cause of death by saying that he fell.

Further investigation revealed that the father had participated in physical beating of the child a day before he died, said the police spokesman.

M.H./M.K.