It’s a horrifying image that will give any parent goosebumps and get their hearts racing with fear.
An adult arm is seen clutching the t-shirt of a baby… clearly dangling the little one out of a window that is very high up. Parked cars can be seen below. One slip, one wriggle from the baby and he would go plummeting down to his death.
Who would be so callous and evil to do this to an innocent child? In this case, it was a relative of the child in a brainless bid to get 1,000 Facebook likes.
We can only imagine how terrified this little one would have been.
According to the BBC, the incident happened in Algeria, and the man was the child’s uncle. On his Facebook page he posted this chilling message: “1,000 likes or I will drop him”. He was dangling the child out of a 15th floor window.
His message prompted other social media users to demand his arrest for child abuse, says the BBC. On Sunday June 18, the man was arrested and reportedly charged with endangering the baby’s safety.
While the man had argued that the picture was photoshopped by social media users, that it had actually been taken in a balcony with protective barriers, judges were reportedly not convinced.
The child’s father, equally irresponsible, had requested that the court forgive the man, saying he had merely been playing a game.
Algerian news channel Al Arabiya reports “The child appeared to be in a state of fear and bewilderment” in the photo, further saying that the man was officially jailed on child abuse charges.
We are glad that the little one is safe, but our hearts are breaking on his behalf over the fear and confusion he undoubtedly felt when he was being dangled out of the window. We hope the trauma of this incident does not have a lasting effect on this little one.