Child suffocated

Dead two-year-old: nursery teachers sentenced

In Gelsenkirchen, Germany, a toddler suffocated under a mattress (symbolic image).(Bild: Anke Thomass )

In August 2021, a toddler in Gelsenkirchen suffocated under the weight of a mattress (see video above). The tragic accident happened in a daycare center. Two nursery teachers have now been sentenced to suspended sentences of six months each for negligent homicide.

Both must also pay 5,000 euros each to the child's parents. The child was found lifeless after a nap at the German daycare center in August 2021. According to the autopsy results, the two-year-old boy suffocated after getting his head stuck in the bars of his bunk bed.

He sat up in bed, lifted his head off the top of the upper bed and got stuck in a railing. The boy eventually suffocated under the weight of the upper mattress topper. It was later discovered that the bed had not been screwed down properly at this point.

The first instance court had acquitted the two nursery nurses in October 2023 due to the technical errors. At this point, the beds had already been in use for ten years without any problems. The fact that the plate was not screwed on properly had never been noticed before.

However, the decision of the court of first instance has now been corrected at second instance. The defects found on the bed did not exonerate the two teachers.