A 19-year-old Ethiopian domestic worker has reportedly confessed to torturing and murdering a child under the age of five with a prayer mat in Tabuk.

According to police sources, the child was subject to torture before being placed in a wooden box and left to die.

Tabuk Gov. Fahd bin Sultan paid his condolences to Abdulrahman Albluwi for the tragic death of his son, Mohammed.

In a report released Thursday, security authorities in the region revealed that the domestic worker confessed to killing the child in the family’s home in the Alnatheem neighborhood on Monday.

She said she used a wooden broomstick to torture the child by inserting it into sensitive areas of his body prior to suffocating him, placing him inside a wooden box and then cleaning the child’s blood with a towel and disposing it in a trash can near the home.

Police spokesman Lt. Col. Khalid Ghaban confirmed that examiners found signs of bruising in the form of lines identified around the thighs and legs, as well as signs of internal lacerations, confirming the occurrence of abuse, during post-mortem examination, he said.

“The family’s testimony indicated that they could not find the child before it was time to break their fast that day,” he said. “They found his corpse inside a wooden box located in the ladies’ room. The family revealed they also found a prayer rug and bed sheets with traces of blood.”

“They became suspicious of the Ethiopian maid in their house while searching for evidence and examining the family members living in the household despite the fact that she had been behaving normally,” he said.

Ghaban pointed out that the worker first denied having any knowledge or bearing any association with the death of the child, but eventually confessed after being faced with hard evidence.