Processes
Two-year-old suffocated in daycare – acquittal for childminders
A verdict has now been handed down in the trial surrounding the tragic death of a two-year-old boy in a mini-daycare center in Gelsenkirchen. photo
© Roland Weihrauch/dpa
A two-year-old boy suffocates in daycare. A verdict has now been reached in the trial against the childminders.
Two childminders are in a mini-daycare center after the tragic death of a two-year-old boy Gelsenkirchen was acquitted. The district court did not see the accusation of negligent homicide as given on Friday. The verdict is not yet legally binding.
During his lunch break, the two-year-old boy had pushed up the heavy chipboard of the mattress above in his bunk bed and had his neck caught. He suffocated. The two women, who looked after the children in the city-run daycare as self-employed childminders, had not entered the bedroom for around an hour during their afternoon nap.
The public prosecutor’s office had demanded ten months’ imprisonment without parole for the two childminders, aged 38 and 27, because they had grossly negligently breached their duty of supervision. The defense attorneys, however, argued that the women could not have prevented the accident. They therefore demanded acquittals.
Brief commotion after acquittal
After the acquittals, there was a brief commotion in the courtroom. After the verdict was announced, the boy’s mother jumped up and attacked one of the childminders, screaming loudly. Her husband was able to stop her at the last moment. Several police officers came into the hall and brought the two acquitted women to safety through a back exit.
The parents’ lawyer said afterwards that his clients were deeply saddened and overwhelmed by their emotions after the acquittal. The co-plaintiff will file an appeal against the verdict.