Amanda Hutton, 43, of Bradford, England, is on trial for the death of her son 4-year-old Hamzah Khan, whose remains were found in a mummified state two years ago.
The boy was so small from starvation and stunted growth due to malnutrition that he was wearing clothes intended for a 6- to 9-month old baby, the prosecution said, according to the BBC and Sky News.
The body was found September 2011, but the boy had died in 2009. Police were called to the house on reports of a strange smell.
“What they discovered disturbed even hardened officers,” prosecutor Paul Greaney told the court.
Hutton denies wrongdoing.
She said she noticed her son become particularly unwell shortly before his death. She consulted a pharmacist. When she returned home, Hamzah was near death. She had some first aid training and tried to revive him. She did not call for assistance and the body remained in the house.
“She described placing Hamzah into his cot, making plain she had treated his body with dignity,” Greaney said. She placed a teddy bear with the body.
Hutton had worked as a care assistant, reports Sky News. She abused alcohol and began to drink even more after the child died. The boy’s father lived elsewhere and allegedly abused Hutton, according to Sky News.
Greaney asked during the hearing, “How had a child starved to death in 21st century England?”
The trial continues.
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