Mom charged after boy found wandering alone

A little boy was said to be in good health after a couple saw him walking alone on a sidewalk in rural Nicosia, with police saying the child’s mother has been charged with child maltreatment.

According to local media, a 3-year-old boy was seen walking alone in Kokkinotrimithia, a rural community west of Nicosia, on Saturday late afternoon.

Police said an unidentified couple notified law enforcement authorities about a child walking on the sidewalk in Kokkinotrimithia in the late afternoon around 5:30pm.

Local media said the couple took the child to police, while it took almost an hour until the child’s mother was contacted and rushed to the local station.

Police told Knews the mother has been charged with maltreatment of a minor under the age of 16, while Social Services have also been alerted.

The location of the incident was later said to have been within up to one kilometer from the boy’s residence.

It was not clear whether the boy’s mother, described as a Romanian national, was at home or at work at the time of the incident, but Knews has been told the suspect was believed to be an unemployed stay-at-home mom.