(Seychelles News Agency) - The Seychelles Police have reported that a 32-year-old Seychellois man has been arrested for allegedly drowning his nine-year-old son yesterday afternoon.

According to a press statement issued by the police this morning, the man is from Les Mamelles on the eastern side of the main inhabited island of Mahé.

The young boy, who was named Alistair Labrosse and lived with his mother in the neighbouring suburb of Roche Caiman, was taken out to sea by his father on a fibreglass boat.

The police were alerted to the situation just after midday by the mother of the child, who was the suspect’s ex-partner. She informed the police that he was last seen heading towards Frégate Island, which lies around 55km to the east of Mahé after threatening to drown the boy “following an ongoing dispute between her and the father.”

“Following that report, the police mobilized all its resources for the search of the boat,” read the statement.

While the search was underway with the help of the coastguard and the Marine Police, the mother of the child stayed at the police station in the island nation’s capital of Victoria, and according to the police she received two phone calls from her ex-partner, who made the last call at around 3pm to inform the mother that her child had already been killed and that he would bring the child’s body back to Mahé.

The deployed search party were directed to the lagoon near the suspect’s parent’s house, where they found the boat containing the boy’s lifeless body.

The father was arrested soon afterwards at his parents’ property. He was brought before the court this afternoon and remanded in police custody until 28 January.

Last updated: 14 January 17:21