The 25-year-old is said to have abused and smothered his girlfriend’s eight-month-old baby because he felt disturbed by the child. He was sentenced for this in 2021, but the public prosecutor and defense have appealed.
In the appeal proceedings regarding the violent death of a baby in Lower Franconia, a psychiatric expert attested the accused to have a dissocial personality disorder. In addition, the 25-year-old has narcissistic traits, the expert said on Thursday before the Würzburg district court.
On February 22, 2021, the court of first instance sentenced the accused to eleven years in prison for manslaughter. The man is said to have abused and suffocated his girlfriend’s eight-month-old baby shortly before Christmas 2019 in the Gemünden am Main area because he felt disturbed by the child. The 25-year-old had always denied this. After taking the evidence, the district court assumed that the suspect had severely abused the boy several times in the weeks before his death.
After the verdict, the prosecution and defense appealed. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) later referred the case back to the district court. It has not been clarified with certainty whether the defendant did not specifically kill the baby – and therefore perhaps murder instead of manslaughter. The prosecutor originally charged the man with murder.
In his plea at the time, the defense attorney had spoken out in favor of a sentence of seven years in prison for bodily harm resulting in death. The public prosecutor had pleaded for a prison sentence of twelve years for manslaughter. After the verdict, the prosecution and defense appealed. Since the hearing of evidence was completed on Thursday, pleadings and judgment could now follow on October 14th.