Father held for killing baby in Rotterdam; Girl not yet 6 months old

The soldier in custody for stabbing a baby to death in Rotterdam's Charlois district on Sunday is the baby's father. Baby Emily was not yet six months old, the baby's grandmother and suspect Ruud S.'s mother said to the newspaper AD. “Our son has had psychological problems for some time,” she said.

The incident happened in a home above hairdresser Barth on Wolphaertsbocht at around 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Neighbors are still in shock.

Robino rushed the baby with her mother and grandmother to the hospital, but it was too late. He saw the mother and grandmother screaming for help from his balcony. “The grandmother held the girl to her chest. The mother stood next to her and screamed. They tried to stop cars because they needed help,” he said to RTL Nieuws.

He didn’t think twice. He ran downstairs and started his car. “The grandmother and child sat next to me, in the front. The mother sat in the back,” he said to the broadcaster. “I drove through the city like crazy. It felt like I was in a movie. I couldn’t hear the baby anymore.”

Robino had no idea what exactly was going on during the car ride. “Until about five minutes later, we arrived at the Ikazia Hospital, and doctors took the baby. They couldn’t save the girl. I think she had already died when I drove her to the hospital.”

Neighbor Sasha also witnessed the tragedy from afar. “I was cooking when I heard screams from the mother and grandmother, right in front of my apartment. ‘My baby, my baby,’ it sounded. Horrible, the screams went through my marrow,” she said to RTL. “The sun is shining, but I can’t enjoy the summer anymore. It is terrible to witness such a horrible thing.”

The neighbors also said that the 22-year-old soldier arrested a short time later was the baby girl’s father. According to Hart van Nederland, the soldier worked in IT for the Dutch Armed Forces, and he had been home on sick leave for a few months. Locals told Rijnmond that the suspect hasn't been doing well for a while. Police visited their home multiple times because of nuisance and a tense home situation, they said.

The Koninklijke Marechaussee, a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military, is handling the investigation because the suspect is a soldier. The Marechaussee refused to comment on the case in the interest of the investigation.