Disturbing footage of boy, 6, forced to run on treadmill played to court as father accused of killing son with abuse
2 May 2024, 08:37 | Updated: 2 May 2024, 08:54
Disturbing footage has emerged of a father forcing his six-year-old son to run on a treadmill because he was ‘too fat’ just days before the boy’s death from abuse.
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Christopher Gregor, 31, from New Jersey appeared in court to face murder charges after his son Corey Micciolo died in 2021 of ‘blunt force trauma’ after years of alleged abuse.
Gregor faces life in prison.
CCTV footage from a gym was shown in court during his trial. The video shows Corey repeatedly falling off the treadmill while his father keeps lifting him up and putting him back on.
Gregor is also seen at one point appearing to bite his son on the back of the head before forcing him to run again.
Read more: Man charged with murder of 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin in Hainault sword attack
Treadmill Abuse Murder Trial: Video of Defendant & Victim at Gym
Days after the gym footage, the boy’s mother saw he had been injured and and reported the injuries to a caseworker with the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
On April 2 that year she brought Corey to a doctor where he said his father forced him to run on the treadmill 'because he was too fat,' according to the US Sun.
The next day, Gregor rushed the little boy to hospital because he woke up from a nap stumbling, slurring his words and experiencing nausea and shortness of breath. He suffered a seizure at hospital and did not recover.
His autopsy revealed he died as a result of blunt force injuries with cardiac and liver contusions, inflammation and sepsis.
Gregor was arrested in July 2021 on charges of child neglect after investigators reviewed the gym surveillance footage.
He claimed in court that the boy’s death was from pneumonia.
In September 2021 a forensic pathologist determined that the boy’s death was a homicide due to chronic child abuse, including blunt force injuries to his chest and abdomen and a laceration to his heart.
The trial continues.
