Swiss woman ‘cut her baby’s throat’ in hospital

A Swiss woman detained by Spanish authorities and taken to a hospital with her 10-month-old son allegedly cut the boy’s throat with a hidden knife and killed him after receiving permission to give him a bath, Spain’s Civil Guard said.

Katharina Katit-Staheli, 40, was taken into custody with her son in Torrevieja on the Mediterranean coast on Wednesday by police acting on an arrest warrant issued by Zurich authorities. The mother allegedly took her child, suffering from a brain abnormality, without authorisation from a Swiss clinic.

Police said the mother and child were taken to the Spanish hospital because the little boy needed medical attention.

She asked permission from police to give him a bath, took a knife she had concealed in nappies, and allegedly killed him, a Civil Guard spokesman said.

The woman then tried to kill herself but police prevented her from doing so, the statement said.

She is said to be in a serious condition at the hospital.

Katharina vanished from Zurich on Christmas Eve with 10-month-old Dylan Katit. Swiss police put out an all-Europe alert after the father reported them missing.

A £2,000 (€2,430) reward was later offered for any knowledge of their whereabouts and they were eventually spotted in south- east Spain.

The mother and son had been traced to a shopping mall in Torreviaja near Alicante and taken into police custody.

A police source confirmed the child had been stabbed to death — although a judicial secrecy order prevented him from giving out more details.