Man jailed for murder after denying son, 14, treatment for Covid

A Dutch man whose 14-year-old son died after he was denied medical treatment for Covid-19 has been jailed for 23 years by a court in Belgium.

Rennlhy Manuela covered up the death of his son, Jairon, for eight weeks, refusing to let his siblings enter his bedroom and telling his mother he was out of the house when she tried to visit him.

Manuela, who belonged to a strict Pentecostal sect, refused to consult a doctor when Jairon fell ill at the end of 2021, instead relying on paracetamol, a liquid diet and prayers for his recovery.

The court of justice in Antwerp said Manuela “made his child’s life subordinate to his radical religious convictions”. He was convicted of murder by a jury and sentenced to 23 years in prison, three years more than prosecutors demanded.

The boy died in the night of January 3 and 4 after falling in the bath. When police were called to the house, they found his body underneath a blanket in an advanced state of decay, with traces of ketamine in his blood.

Manuela and his adult housemates had hoped God would answer their prayers to bring Jairon back to life.

Mother raised alarm

Jairon’s mother, Danica, raised the alarm after she contacted the boy’s school across the Dutch border in Tilburg, only to be told he had been signed out months earlier.

She had been denied access to the villa in Turnhout, where Manuela lived with his children and several other members of the religious community.

Four other adults were given sentences of between one and three years in the case. The jury said Manuela had caused “irreperable suffering” by “preventing [Jairon’s] mother and brothers saying goodbye in a humane manner”.