At trial

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The 38-year-old is alleged to have raped his daughter.(Bild: Kerstin Wassermann)

Did the 38-year-old father really inflict the martyrdom of abuse on his children? This question should have been clarified on Friday at the regional court in Klagenfurt. But the trial is raising more and more questions. Because the family is defending the 38-year-old.

"He was good to the children," affirms the ex-wife of the accused, who has been in custody in Klagenfurt for months due to numerous accusations of being a "monster father". The 38-year-old academic is said to have abused his four children and even raped his nine-year-old daughter. But the eldest son denies all accusations: "He never hit us and certainly never abused my sister!" The 14-year-old accuses his dad's short-term girlfriend of instigating him and his siblings to make the massive false statements. "I was afraid of her," he explains the motive.

"I just wanted to help"
However, the 35-year-old, who has been incriminated in this way, doesn't seem quite so scary, at least during the video interrogation from Romania: "I just wanted to help," she says. "I wish I hadn't interfered!" Finding the truth in this convoluted case is not easy for the panel of lay judges under Judge Gernot Kugi. The trial was therefore adjourned.