Disturbing video of woman slapping and suffocating a baby was shot in South Africa and the child's mother has been arrested

A disturbing video of a woman physically abusing a baby caused outrage after it went viral. It has now been revealed that the abuser is the child’s mother and she did it to spite the father.

The video was originally shared on Twitter by Lackadaisical MacIrishZa on January 23. The caption asked Twitter for help finding the child. Later in the day, the same account tweeted that the baby had been found.

The incident occurred in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. The video is just a snippet of two videos taken by the 21-year-old mother which she sent to the child’s father.

According to the International Business Times, the child in the video is 2-years-old.

According to Col. Thembeka Mbele, a KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, the child’s mother recorded the videos on January 8. The matter was reported to the Newcastle family violence, child protection and sexual offenses unit (FCS) who immediately opened a case and arrested the mother around the second week of January.

The child was taken to a hospital and is reported to be well. He is now in custody of his father.

The video which went viral shows the mother slapping and suffocating the child. But police say she didn’t stop there. In the longer videos, she also pinched the child’s lips shut, pinched his face and buttocks, and kicked him in the head. At one point the terrified child tried to stand and walk away, but was stopped by the mother.

The woman was charged with attempted murder. Her identity has not been released in order to protect the child’s identity, according to police.

Watch the video below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtCuTx-HZUl/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_loading_state_control&ig_mid=W2SFeQABAAGK5hWbVkehfEI3JyBb