The Disap.pearance of Scott and Amy Fandel

On April 4, 2023, Sione Kafokuota Pulotu, a 37-year-old Phoenix resident, was arrested and charged with child ab*se after allegedly leaving his infant son to drown in a bath while he played video games.

According to court documents, Pulotu was alone with his 7-month-old son, Leka, while his girlfriend, the boy’s mother, was at work. The mother’s three other children were at school at the time. Pulotu claimed to be in the bedroom with his son, playing a video game while the baby slept for most of the morning.

Around 11:30 a.m., Pulotu noticed that Leka was sweaty and decided to give him a bath before driving to his mother-in-law’s house. He placed the baby into an infant bathtub and filled the tub with water up to the baby’s chest. He then left the bathroom to continue playing video games.

Pulotu claimed to have made sure he could see into the bathroom through a one-inch slit between the door and the frame. He also said he heard the child splashing the water while he was sitting on his bed, continuing to play video games for another 10 minutes.

When Pulotu noticed that Leka became silent, he checked on the boy and found his face entirely in the water. He called 911 at least one hour after he placed Leka into the infant bathtub. Court documents indicate that Pulotu was aware that it was dangerous to leave a baby alone in a bathtub.

The Phoenix Fire Department has reminded parents and caregivers that drownings can occur without proper supervision and that it only takes a couple of inches of water for a child to drown in. The department has emphasized the importance of never leaving a child unattended in water.

Leka was rushed to the hospital but was found to be brain d*ad. Pulotu was subsequently arrested on one charge of child ab*se.

Based on the search results, the father in the Phoenix infant drowning case was booked into jail on one charge of child abuse. However, I could not find any information on the sentence or prison time he received. It is possible that the case is still ongoing or that the sentence has not been publicly reported.