Jury deliberates
“Go to the box now or I’ll beat you to death”
Verdict day in the trial of a 33-year-old Lower Austrian woman and her former best friend at Krems Regional Court. The mother is alleged to have severely tortured her twelve-year-old son from summer to November 2022 - under the guidance of the second defendant. Court expert Peter Hofmann kicked off the proceedings. The jury has been deliberating since 3 pm.
Before the court psychiatrist takes the floor, the two defendants have their say again. The second defendant constantly contradicts herself, wallows in self-pity. Then she surprises with a statement. She told her uncle in September 2022 that the first defendant was locking the twelve-year-old in a dog crate. However, he testified that he had known nothing about it.
"Gerhard, go to the box or I'll kill you."
For the first time, she admits that she was there once when the 33-year-old forced Gerhard (name changed) into the cage. This happened after the boy had escaped again. "He hit us," she claims. The mother then shouted: "Gerhard, go into the box or I'll kill you." He then crawled in on his knees.
Court psychiatrist Peter Hofmann explains to the jury how the horrific acts could have happened. After losing her mother in 2019, the woman was left alone with Gerhard. "The child had serious psychological problems. That was a huge challenge for the woman," says Hofmann.
Sane and dangerous
When she met the second defendant, she became "deeply dependent" on the 40-year-old. "It developed into a paranoid symbiotic relationship." She asked about everything, wanted to please her "soulmate". After all, she had developed a severe emotional disorder with her child. According to Hofmann, the 33-year-old was sane, but due to her severe and lasting mental disorder, he recommends that she be placed in a forensic therapy center. "If someone does these things to their own son, it can happen again and again. This was continued torture."
"Deep sadistic elements"
The expert attests that the second defendant had a "classic manipulative style of conversation". On the one hand, the woman liked to see herself in the role of the victim, on the other hand, she liked to be a problem solver. If everything had happened as the first defendant testified in her interrogation, then the second defendant must be attributed with "a lust for power with deep sadistic elements that are deeply destructive". If she had instrumentalized and manipulated Gerhard's mother in such a way, then these were "mental abysses, without any empathy". In the courtroom, the mother of four presents herself as if she couldn't hurt a fly. The crime has a very special dimension: "It is a case of the century."
The mother defended by Astrid Wagner is facing life imprisonment. Her former "soulmate", represented by Sascha Flatz, faces a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. The jury deliberations started at 3 p.m. in Krems Regional Court.
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