The father of a boy who died after being bitten by a snake in Australia last year was arrested and charged with manslaughter after the boy’s death.
Tristan Frahm, 11, passed away last year on November 20, a few hours after a snake bit him at a friend’s house that he was visiting near Murgon, Queensland, a small rural town with a population close to 2,378 people.
The police investigation into the case, which took almost a year, revealed that the young boy pleaded with his 31-year-old father, Kerrod Frahm, to help him because his snake bite had gotten worse and he was in a lot of pain, but his father ignored him.
The investigation into Tristan’s death, dubbed Operation Uniform Weave, culminated in the dad’s arrest on Monday and subsequent charging on Tuesday night. Police charged Kerrod Frahm with manslaughter for not taking the boy’s health complaints seriously.
Tristan and his father went to bed sometime after the boy complained about the pain of the snake bite to his dad, and his condition quickly worsened. Tristan reportedly got up in the middle of the night as his condition got worse, and his body was found the next day outside the house, near a shed.
Tristan’s death took a toll on his family as family members mourned the 11-year-old and remembered him as a hero and an angel after his death last year.
One of his relatives, Gemma Thorley, shared photos and videos of the boy enjoying his life while ice skating and playing and paid tribute to him. She posted that she was shocked and heartbroken, still in disbelief about his tragic passing. The heartbreaking tribute continued to say that she loved and missed him a lot, saying that he would forever be in her heart.
Frahm will appear in court on December 6, and he could face up to 25 years in prison, which is the maximum penalty for manslaughter in Australia, according to the Australian Criminal Law Group.
Police accuse Frahm of neglecting his son and refusing to seek medical attention for the boy even after his son brought the snake bite to his attention.
A 2016 study showed fewer snakebite deaths than bees, ants, wasps, and ticks from 2000 to 2013.
Only two people in Australia die from snake bites annually, compared to 30,000 people who get bitten annually. The low fatality rate from snakebites is because the victims are quickly taken to the hospital and treated before the venom spreads to their entire bodies. They make a full recovery fairly quickly.
The news comes after a king cobra snake escaped from a zoo in Sweden just last week. The snake, nicknamed Houdini, escaped from Skansen zoo in Stockholm through a light fitting. Despite zoo staff using various methods to track him, including sticky traps, they are yet to find him. King Cobras are some of the most venomous snakes worldwide, so hopefully, no one gets bitten.