Italy girl, 6, calls police for help: 'He's beating my mum'

Italian police responded to a child's call for help in the Sicilian city of Messina (file photo)

A six-year-old in Italy who saw her mother being hit by her partner called the police for help, media reports say.

"Come, he's beating my mother," the girl tearfully told emergency services in Messina, Sicily, at 02:00 (00:00 GMT) on Wednesday, Rai News reported.

Police arrived to find a 33-year-old woman bleeding from injuries in a courtyard, with neighbours looking on.

They later arrested her partner, 44, for suspected mistreatment and personal injury of family members.

The man had fled the scene with the couple's three-year-old daughter to the family home they shared.

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The six-year-old girl, who is not the biological child of the man, was found crying beside her mother, who was taken to hospital for treatment.

She has been praised by Italian media for her sensitivity and sense of responsibility in calling the emergency services, while nearby witnesses did nothing.