Law enforcement in Russia has arrested a mother on suspicion of murder after she reportedly dropped her screaming daughter off a balcony, resulting in the child’s death.
Anna Ruzankina, 23, allegedly dangled her three-year-old daughter Anastasia off the balcony as a form of punishment for crying.
A distressing video captured Anastasia begging her mother as she was precariously dangled over the balcony, pleading, “Mama, I am scared. I am scared, scared, scared…..I am scared.”
Tragically, she fell 60ft to her death.
The footage depicts the final moments of her fall before she hit the ground.
Subsequently, Ruzankina retrieved the lifeless girl and CCTV footage captured her holding the child in the lift as she took her body back up to the family’s sixth-floor flat in Saratov, where she shook the child as if trying to revive her.
Local media reports suggested that the mother had been holding the screaming girl by her T-shirt over the balcony edge, but her shirt tore, leading to the fatal fall.
The incident occurred after Ruzankina had been out to a nightclub and was reportedly intoxicated.
A male passer-by recalled hearing “a child’s loud screams from an upper floor,” and then a sound of falling, after which the screams ceased. He rushed to call emergency services, shocked by the scene.
Neighbours claimed that the mother had initially stated the child climbed over the balcony herself.
Ruzankina has been detained on suspicion of murdering a minor and could face up to 21 years in prison if convicted.
In response to the incident, the Russian Investigative Committee stated: “Ruzankina dropped her young daughter, born in 2018, from the balcony. Currently, the suspect has been detained.”
