A boy was stabbed to death by his own father on New Year's Day after he was forced to visit him on court orders.

Daniele Paitoni arrived at his estranged father Davide Paitoni's home in the commune of Morazzone, in Varese Province, Italy, on December 31. The seven-year-old lost his life after he was stabbed in the throat when they were alone at the house.

The accused, who was living in a property owned by his father Renato Paitoni, proceeded to hide his son's body in a wardrobe. It is not yet clear if he had also drugged the victim before attacking him. After hiding the body, he sent an audio message to his own father asking him to not open the bedroom wardrobe, and went on to leave the house, reports Mirror.

The victim, whose parents were in the middle of a separation, had pleaded with his mother and grandparents several times to not send him to his father, but they had no choice because of court orders. His grandfather told a local newspaper, "The little boy didn't want to go. We made a mistake in taking him to his dad. But he had the judge's permission."

The accused, a warehouse worker, was already under house arrest for attacking his work colleague with a knife outside their workplace in Azzate on November 26. However, a judge still ruled that he will be given a chance to spend New Year's Eve with his son, who had been staying with his mother.

Authorities have not started a probe into why Davide Paitoni was allowed to look after a young boy despite his violent history and the fact that he was already under investigation for an attempted stabbing.

It is being speculated that the accused killed his son partly as a form of revenge for his separation from his wife and revenge for her reporting him to the police in the past for incidents of domestic violence. He brutally injured her again when he turned up at her parents' house on New Year's Day when he was supposed to return their son.

However, having allegedly already killed the child, he turned up empty-handed and proceeded to stab the woman several times leaving her in a critical condition. He fled the scene and then sent voice messages to her claiming that their son is safe and he only attacked her to punish her for ruining his life and wanting to take his son away from him.

Crime Scene
Crime scene police line | Representational Image Photo: GETTY IMAGES / SCOTT OLSON GETTY IMAGES/SCOTT OLSON