Moscow nanny cites Syria revenge after beheading child

An Uzbeki childminder who wielded the severed head of a toddler outside a Moscow metro station has claimed that she killed the four-year-old in revenge for Russian airstrikes in Syria.

"I took revenge against those who spilled blood," 38-year-old Gulchekhra Bobokulova said in a video posted online on Thursday.

"Putin spilled blood, planes carried out bombings. Why are Muslims being killed? They also want to live."

A video has also been circulated on the internet, showing the mother of three walking outside the metro station chanting "God is Great", whilst holding the severed head of the child in one hand.

It is thought that the mother of three had strangled the child to death before leaving her decapitated remains inside the child's cot and setting the house on fire.

Appearing before a Moscow court on Wednesday, Bobokulova smiled and waved at journalists from inside her detainee's cage, before claiming that "Allah ordered" her to carry out the murder.

The victim's father, Vladimir Mesheryakov described his anguish on the day of the court appearance, saying, "Everyone, perhaps, knows about our terrible grief. There are no words to describe the feeling of hatred, weakness and helplessness."

After backing a decision by Russian media outlets not to show the gruesome images related to this case, the Kremlin is facing claims of trying to suppress the news of this as a terror-related crime.

On Tuesday, spokespersons for the Kremlin re-iterated their support for the news blackout, whilst also alluding to claims that Bobokulova is mentally unstable.

According to a source, the childminder was acting under the command of "voices" what she was hearing on the day of the murder. Such a claim seems to fit in with the reports that Bobokulova was suffering from Schizophrenia, and had reportedly been deteriorating since registering with a psychiatric clinic in Uzbekistan a few months earlier.

Speaking to journalists, the accused also claimed that "Allah is sending a second prophet to give news of peace".

In response to Bobokulova's claims, Russian investigators  suggested that the stated motives of mentally unstable individuals are often different from their actual intent.

"You need to regard anything that such a deranged woman says accordingly," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Investigators also believe that Bobokulova had been radicalised by a boyfriend or husband that she had recently been seeing. They have appealed for the whereabouts of the man who is thought to have been at the crime scene shortly before the murder.