Boy (5) abused

“This child was simply an extra income”

The foster parents had to answer to the Eisenstadt Regional Court. The then five-year-old was traumatized.(Bild: Harald Schume, Krone KREATIV)

Foster parents in Burgenland allegedly locked an ADHD boy in the cellar from the age of five and repeatedly abused him. Both deny the substantiated allegations. 

Traumas sometimes need time to be addressed and finally processed. Today, the boy, who was five at the time and has always suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is 22 years young.

"Father" receives care allowance
Why did the then childless foster parents take the little boy into their home? "It was a good additional income," says the pensioner, who receives care allowance in addition to his pension. He had had a stroke. The trial at Eisenstadt Regional Court had to be interrupted because his heart wasn't quite playing along.

"Never hit with fists"
"Completely innocent", confessed the man from southern Burgenland. No. He never locked the boy in the cellar; never gave him a cold shower; never stuffed lard sandwiches in his mouth because he didn't want to eat; never tied him to a tree at night; never rubbed snow on him, apart from witnesses; never hit him with his fists when he tried to set the house on fire again. "I never touched him," says the man. Not even when the boy completely tore apart his room - which, according to the prosecution, contained a bed and a locker.

Everything was always fine anyway
The pensioner's ex-wife was also charged; she is said to have witnessed and tolerated the assaults. "Everything was always fine," she says, "but sometimes it was challenging. We did everything we could to make sure he was OK".

Witnesses were interviewed, neighbors, a representative of the BH Güssing, everything was okay there, the boy must have been fantasizing, they say. Did he? The trial was adjourned. The presumption of innocence applies.