Rones Mota, who works as an evangelical pastor, has been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter after leaving his three-year-old daughter Ana Liz in a hot car where temperatures soared to 50C
A three-year-old girl suffered fatal heatstroke when her pastor dad forgot to drop her off at nursery and left her in a hot car eight hours.
Evangelical pastor Rones Mota had forgotten to drop off his daughter Ana Liz at nursery school and left her locked in the car in Arraial, in the state of Piaui, in north-eastern Brazil, on Monday, 23rd June.
Although the external temperature was a survivable 24 degrees Celsius, inside the car it had soared to a deadly nearly 50 degrees, experts estimate.
Horrified Mota found Ana Liz dead in the car at 2:40 pm that day when he returned to the car to go and collect her and his eight-year-old son from school.
Local media reports say Mota was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter before being released on bail. Mota blamed her death on a mix-up over the school run.
He told police he normally dropped off Ana Liz at nursery first and then drove his son to school.
His lawyer, Dr Airiston Leite Ayres, said that this time his son needed to be at school early and then he forgot that Ana Liz was still in the car.
Floriano Police Chief Amanda Estevam told local media: “Witnesses report that the father entered the church, with his daughter in his arms, in a state of despair over what had happened.”
She added: “Although it is clear that he had no intention of causing any harm to his daughter, what happened constitutes a breach of duty of care, and is being investigated as negligent homicide.”
She also said that the pastor should not be held in preventive detention, since the crime was negligent and he did not avoid being held accountable. If he is convicted, he could face a sentence of one to three years in prison.
The judge may also decide not to apply the sentence if he considers that the father has already been sufficiently punished for the impact of the tragedy on his own life, according to local media.
It comes after an 18-month-old baby boy died in the same circumstances in the US while his dad allegedly spent time getting a haircut and grabbing a pint.
Scott Gardner was arrested on June 19 and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect causing great bodily harm, over the heartbreaking incident which took place on June 6.
According to a joint probe by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and the Ormond Beach Police Department, Gardner, 33, left his toddler son, Sebastian Gardner, alone in the backseat of a pickup truck around 11:30 a.m.