A lifestyle blogging father who starved his newborn son to death by demanding he should live on sunlight instead of food and milk has had his jail sentence increased.
Maxim Lyutyi, 44, and his partner Oxana Mironova, 34, failed to properly feed their baby Cosmos, who died from 'pneumonia and emaciation' when he was less than one month oldThe Russian father, who is serving his sentence in a high-security penal colony, had his sentence increased from eight to 10 years. He took the baby away from his mother for a day at a time 'dousing him with cold water to harden him', reported Mash news outlet. 'The little body could not withstand the abuse: exhaustion developed and breathing problems appeared. But even in this condition, the child was not shown to doctors.'
Lyutyi caused 'intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm' to Cosmos by insisting the baby be nourished mainly on sunlight, the court in Sochi heard.
He admitted his guilt in a court appearance last week after previously trying to pin the blame on Mironova who has already received a non-custodial sentence of two years 'correctional labour'.
He had claimed she had an iron deficiency which caused the death of the baby weighing three-and-a-half pounds.
Lyutyi told the court he was guilty of 'negligence'. 'I admit my guilt,' he said. 'If I knew that my son was born prematurely, that his mother had contraindications for pregnancy, then at the first symptoms of the child's illness. 'I would immediately contact a hospital, regardless of the wishes and beliefs of the mother…' On video he said: 'Your Honour, distinguished court, I still insist [I did not deliberately kill my child. This is purely a crime of negligence…without such intent. I emphasise once again that I loved my son, cared for him.' The court was earlier told Lyutyi wanted to raise the newborn on prana-eating - a diet in which people go without food and water for a long time and 'feed on the sun'.
He was accused of barring Mironova from breastfeeding the child, and was described as a 'radical raw food fanatic'.
'He wanted to experiment on the child, feed him purely with the sun, and then advertise it to others that this is how you can eat,' said one source.
A court official said Lyutyi was also fined £860. Oxana's mother Galina accused the sinister Lyutyi of running a 'sect'. 'I was against my daughter being in this sect,' she said. I felt everything, and told her that Maxim was crazy, but she didn't listen to me. Oxana lived there like a guinea pig. Each time she became colder to me… She was his slave.'
Another relative of Mironiva said: 'Oxana told me that she was afraid of him. She wanted to leave him many times, but he held her back… He wanted to raise [his son into] a man who only eats the sun.'
Oxana's cousin Olesya Nikolayeva said: 'He forced her not to feed the baby. Her boyfriend believed that the sun was feeding the baby. 'Oxana was secretly trying to breastfeed the baby, but she was very afraid of Maxim. How is it possible to feed the baby with sunlight? A baby needs his mother's milk.'
Lyutyi had delivered his child at home, refusing to let Oxana go to a maternity hospital.
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