crime
Mother let one-year-old starve – life imprisonment
The defendant (m.) was sentenced to life imprisonment in Rostock. photo
© Bernd Wüstneck/dpa
While the mother was having fun with her boyfriend in his apartment, her sick one-year-old son died on the floor below. The verdict was for murder.
The defendant accepted the verdict without moving, but sank deeper and deeper into her chair during the hour-long reasoning. Life imprisonment for the murder of her one-year-old son, Judge Peter Goebels announced the verdict on Tuesday against the 24-year-old from Güstrow, who was freshly made-up, wearing a green jacket and in ankle cuffs on the 18th day of the trial in the regional court Rostock appeared.
The woman let her son, who was acutely ill with diarrhea, die of thirst and starvation. According to the criminal chamber, she grossly neglected her duty of care. The toddler was strapped into a child car seat on the night of his death in September 2021. Meanwhile, the mother spent the night with her friend and neighbor just one floor above her apartment without caring about the boy.
“The children were a disruptive factor for you”
According to the judge, the defendant accepted the risk of death and the possible death of the child because she had an appointment with her boyfriend and subordinated everything to that. The woman acted out of pure selfishness. She wrote WhatsApp messages for hours. She also severely neglected her then four-year-old son. “The children were a disruptive factor for you.” When the woman was with her boyfriend, there was a baby monitor. But this was either not in operation or she simply ignored it.
The German left the two children alone and unattended in the apartment on the evening of the crime. The one-year-old died on the night of September 20, 2021 due to severe diarrhea and severe fluid loss due to a clot in the pulmonary arteries. The mother was never incapable of control and knew that the child needed a lot of fluids when he had diarrhea. According to the judge, she only had to go down a few steps to check on the boy. “You could have stopped your flirtation.” But she didn’t want this.
When she went back to her own apartment from her neighbor’s apartment in the early hours of the morning, the 24-year-old lay down in the living room without checking on the children. It wasn’t until she woke up around noon that she discovered the 13-month-old child was dead. According to the coroner’s office, the death occurred between midnight and 9:00 a.m.
Severe neglect
The forensic expert also stated that the autopsy of the body showed “clear signs of starvation.” The mother neither provided age-appropriate nor adequate nutrition. “The child simply had to starve,” said the judge. During the child’s only stay with her, the childminder reported that the child had devoured two portions and was like a “little tiger only fixated on the food”.
The slightly older brother was rarely brought to daycare by his mother. Some months he was only there once, others seven times, some months not at all. The mother repeatedly had lies and excuses as to why the children did not come to daycare or to the childminder. A family helper has now been assigned to her. The judge also criticized official failings: “The youth welfare office has completely failed here.” The defendant’s six-year-old son has been living with the child’s father since September 2021.
With the sentence, the court followed the prosecutor’s request. The defense attorney had demanded a conviction for negligent homicide and a prison sentence of no more than one year and six months for his client, the execution of which should be suspended on probation. The verdict is not yet legally binding.