Man with 8-year-old daughter naked in woods says he was testing her resistance to the cold

A dad who went missing with his daughter for two days is under arrest after both were found naked in a forest where he said he was testing her cold resistance levels. Postal worker Jan Magusin, 38, and daughter Nina, 8, had sparked a full scale search operation after disappearing from the family home in the town of Banovce nad Bebravou in north-western Slovakia. Over 200 police officers were called in to search for the pair after wife Marcela, 36, found he had not dropped their daughter off at school and had not turned up to work at their local post-office.

They were discovered after cyclist Josef Hanzlik, 30, spotted the naked dad crawling around on his knees on a forest bike path and his semi-naked daughter wearing only her underwear in a nearby bush. He said: "It was one of the most bizarre and disturbing things I have ever seen. I understand he is a postman, maybe he wanted to pretend being a dog for a change but either way he was completely naked and on all fours crawling towards the girl in a bush. I could see she was shivering and they were completely oblivious to me."



When police arrived at the spot 5km from where they had found Magusin’s abandoned car, he became aggressive and had to be restrained. A police spokesman said: "At first he seemed very confused but quickly turned aggressive and shouted abuse at the officers before trying to run off. After being caught he said he was testing his daughter’s resistance to cold weather and it was none of our business how he did it." The pair were taken to hospitals in the nearby Slovakian capital of Bratislava and the girl was discharged shortly after.

Dana Kamenicka, spokesman at the Children’s Faculty Hospital in Bratislava where Nina was treated said: "She had scratches on her body but other than that she seemed fine and there were no reasons to hospitalise her. She was sent home with her mother." Magusin was taken to the psychiatric ward of the University Hospital of Bratislava where he is undergoing psychiatric tests. His uncle Marian Misunda said: "I am completely shocked by the things my nephew has done." Other relatives said he had recently joined the Scientology sect and was having problems with his wife, also a postal worker. Police say they will wait for the outcome of the doctors’ diagnosis before deciding whether to charge Magusin or not.