Two parents were arrested by Miami-Dade police after their 5 children were found in a Miami Beach apartment with no electricity or food. Sanel Canovic, 40, and Azra Nikocevic, 33, were arrested Tuesday on five counts each of child neglect with no great bodily harm, Miami-Dade jail records showed.
Azra Nikocevic has been charged with five counts of child neglect after police discovered her five children living in filthy conditions in their Miami Beach apartment. The alarming discovery was made after a 6-year-old child was seen unsupervised, crossing a busy street in the 700 block of 15th Street on Tuesday afternoon.
A concerned passerby called the police, and officers responded to find the child leaving an apartment complex alone. Upon further investigation, authorities found the children living in unsafe and unhygienic conditions.
When officers asked the 6-year-old boy where he lived, he led them to an apartment in the 700 block of 15th Street, where the couple’s oldest child, a 12-year-old, answered the door. Upon entering the apartment, officers discovered four other children inside, living in deplorable conditions.
The apartment lacked food, electricity, a working toilet, and a functioning stove. When asked if they were hungry, the children confirmed they hadn’t eaten since around 10 p.m. the night before. Further investigation revealed the toilet was filled with stagnant water and feces, and there was no toilet paper. The children told officers they were forced to shower after using the bathroom. Additionally, the children revealed they had been without electricity for about two months. These conditions led to the charges of child neglect against Azra Nikocevic.
The children told officers they had no way of contacting their mother but mentioned she worked at a hotel in Miami. They also said they didn’t know where their father worked. The officers took the children to the police station to ensure they were fed and cared for while they attempted to contact their parents. Investigators also interviewed the 12-year-old daughter, who revealed that she was responsible for taking care of her siblings while their parents were at work.
According to the reports, the children all shared a full-size bed, and the 12-year-old explained that they ate breakfast and lunch at school. She shared that their father would often tell them, “You eat at school, so you don’t eat at home.” She further explained that the kids frequently went to bed hungry, especially during school breaks, as their meals relied on their parents bringing food home. However, the mother would sometimes leave them $20 to buy food, and the children would use it to purchase two bacon cheeseburgers and three McChicken sandwiches from McDonald’s. These troubling details of neglect led to the charges against Azra Nikocevic.
“The parents would frequently share a meal in the evening without providing food for the children,” the reports said. “They would often leave the children at home while they went out to dinner.”
The 12-year-old daughter told officers that the apartment had been without toilet paper for about a week, and the children would either use small rags or take a shower to clean themselves. Officers found several soiled rags on the bathroom floor. The reports also noted that all the children were wearing soiled clothing and had a strong odor of body odor and urine. The daughter explained that it had been about two weeks since their parents last did laundry, causing the children to often wear dirty clothes.
Officers eventually contacted Nikocevic, who came to the police station and told investigators that their apartment had been without electricity for approximately six weeks due to being behind on the bill.
Nikocevic also admitted that she left $20 for the children to buy snacks but explained that she had no way of confirming whether they had eaten, as she could not contact them while at work. She mentioned that she was trying to get assistance with food stamps but denied that she had intentionally deprived the children of food.
The children’s father, Canovic, later arrived at the police station and requested to give a statement through a Croatian interpreter. An officer translated for him, but he invoked his right to an attorney.
The report stated that both Nikocevic and Canovic “willfully failed to provide adequate care, supervision, and the basic necessities required to maintain the victims’ physical and mental health.” Both parents were arrested and booked into jail. They later appeared in court, where a judge set their bond at $2,500 each.
