The mum of a toddler who died of heatstroke after he was forgotten in a nursery van has said she “loves” the daycare owner who left him there.
Salomao Rodrigues Faustino died after being forgotten in a van by the daycare owner in Neropolis, in the Metropolitan Region of Goiania, in Brazil, on February 18. The daycare owner, named as Flaviane Lima, has been arrested and charged with homicide, although her lawyer has requested that the charge be changed to manslaughter. On the day the two-year-old died, according to police chief Andre Fernandes, the child was left inside the car for four hours under the beating sun.
Lima called the Fire Department to help Salomao, and he was taken to the Hospital Sagrado Coracao de Jesus. But medics were unable to save him. His little body was released by the Goiania Institute of Forensic Medicine (IML) and taken to Neropolis, where he was laid to rest.
According to the police spokesperson, medical reports indicate that the boy suffered heatstroke. The condition, which starts out as hyperthermia, develops when the body’s temperature rises beyond its tolerable limits, and, in severe cases, starts destroying vital internal organs.
When asked about what happened on the day of her son’s death, Giselle said that there is no explanation for what happened, adding: “The world may or may not judge, but I put myself in their shoes too, there are two families that are destroyed at this moment.”
And bizarrely, Giselle has said that she loves Lima, the daycare owner who she was friends with prior to the fatal incident.
She explained: “I don’t know how to explain the love that God placed in my heart for her! I always admired Flaviane as a person, I handpicked who with and where my son would stay.” Fernandes said that the footage recorded by the nursery school’s cameras shows Lima’s despair, fear and surprise when she discovered the boy in the car.
He said: “It was a very serious memory lapse. It was total despair, which left her helpless. All the preparation she had up until that moment was not enough.”
The police also reported that the investigation showed that the owner of the nursery had a good relationship with the child and that they liked each other.
He said: “She had affection for the child. Not just her, but everyone in the nursery, according to statements in the police investigation.”
The investigation is ongoing.
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