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This is the harrowing moment police found a starving toddler inside a filth-soiled flat.
Police had been called to an residential block in Fairborn, Ohio, after reports of a three-year-old struggling to breathe, according to Dayton Daily News.
Footage shows officers entering the flat, which was infested with cockroaches and had trash scattered throughout.
‘Oh my god,’ one officer gasped, as he shone his flashlight into a room where the child had curled up in a ball.
The little girl was unresponsive and weighed only 16 pounds and was covered in bug bites next to a soiled mattress.
Mum Rabyah Nadhirah Muballigh, 25, has since been charged with endangering a child and felonious assault.
The cot of the three-year-old girl (Picture: Fairborn Police Department)
A statement said: ‘Various bugs were observed crawling on the walls, floors and beds.
‘A clear infestation of roaches was observed in each of the two bedrooms as well as other areas of the apartment.
‘Inside the refrigerator and freezer were visible dead bugs and moldy food.’
Muballigh had initially left the apartment after calling 911, but police convinced her to return and arrested her.
Officers could not believe their eyes when they first say the state of the flat (Picture: Fairborn Police Department)
She claimed that she left because she was ‘afraid’ and has ‘post traumatic stress disorder’.
Muballigh is being held on a $500,000 bond and undergoing competency and mental health evaluations for her trial.
Luckily, the malnourished toddler is beginning to gain some weight, according to Sergeant Nathan Penrod.
He told local news: ‘She’s got a long road to recovery, but she is continuing to gain some weight.
‘But again, she’s probably going to be hospitalized for quite some time.’
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