The aunt of a toddler whose father allegedly left her in a chained-shut car to burn a live in New York has spoken out.
Earlier, her father Martin Pereira, 39, had fled the scene in flames, dousing himself in a nearby pond where first-responders found him, pulled him out, and took him to hospital under police custody as a person of interest.
“He killed a baby. He burned her alive. He did that to her. That’s not even human, that’s an animal. That’s a coward,” she said.
Sources told the Post that Zoey was strapped into an infant seat in the back of the car while its rear doors were chained shut from the inside—one door to the other so that neither could be opened.
Moreover, the car had been doused in gasoline and a propane tank in the trunk was leaking into the back seat. A second tank was found outside the vehicle, according to the Post, citing sources.
Firefighters struggled to get Zoey out of the car and were only able to rescue her after the door handles that the chains were locked onto had melted.
Witnesses described the incident as some sort of explosion.
“I heard a boom, like something explode. When I came out, I saw smoke,” witness Lisa Silvera, 50, told the Daily News.
Another eyewitness said she saw a man running from the scene engulfed in flames, who ran to a nearby pond to put out the fire, before first-responders found him.
“He was on a stretcher, he’s burned,” Silvera told the Post. “He looked white. So burned. With a mask on his face.”