Birthday hero speaks after catching child flung from rooftop of a mall

A seven-year-old girl is in a critical condition after her father flung her from the roof of a Bloemfontein shopping mall on Wednesday.

The man who saved her life – who was having a birthday meal at a fast food chain nearby – recounted how he couldn’t sleep as the ordeal played out repeatedly in his mind throughout the night.

The girl’s 27-year-old father‚ who also jumped from the building‚ is also in a critical condition and is under police guard. Police have classified the case as a failed attempted murder-suicide. And attempted murder case has been opened.

The man who caught the child‚ Anthony Ezeh‚ had taken his family for lunch at McDonald's when his wife heard a baby cry.

“We all ran off to the scene and tried to make him stop‚ but he would not listen. I lost my voice even‚ because we were screaming. He ended up throwing the child and‚ I don’t know how it happened‚ but I opened my arms and the child fell into my hands‚” said Ezeh.

He said he had never seen anything like it.

“I hope the child gets well. And I thank God that I could do something to save her life. I really don’t know what to say. I have three children of my own and I would never imagine doing such a thing to them‚ you know. It was very bad‚” Ezeh said.

According to information given to the police‚ the man apparently had vicious domestic brawl with his girlfriend on Wednesday night.

“He allegedly then took his seven-year-old daughter and went to the rooftop of Shoprite building at the Bloem Plaza. He then threw the child down from the rooftop and later threw himself down. The child was luckily caught by the bystander on the ground‚” said police spokesperson Captain Chaka Marope. 

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