Warning: The article contains content that may disturb some people.
A US man has been charged with first-degree murder after running burning-hot water over a child's face in an attempt to exorcise a demon.
Pablo Martinez, 31, was arrested after emergency services were called to a home on the Pascua Yaqui Indian Reservation in Arizona last Thursday.
There, they found a six-year-old with burns over about 15 percent of his body. He was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later.
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According to police, Martinez said the boy "had a demon inside him" and knew he "needed to save him".
When the boy had an "unnatural fit of rage," he held the child under a tap of scalding water, so it was pouring into the boy's mouth. Martinez estimated the boy's head was under the hot tap for 5 to 10 minutes, which he claimed was effective in ridding the child of the demon.
Romelia Martinez, the boy's adoptive mother, told police that she heard a gurgling sound coming from the bathroom and when she entered she saw Martinez holding the boy down under the faucet.
She told investigators she screamed at him to stop, but Martinez told her that "he had to do it". She then called emergency services.
She told police she agrees the boy had been acting demonic.
Martinez is being held in the custody of the US Marshals Service, and has allegedly told police "I did it".
Michael Areinoff, a public defender representing Martinez, declined to comment on the allegations.
Newshub.
