Children as Victims

Two Mothers on Trial for Alleged Torture

What two sisters-in-law are alleged to have done to their own daughters defies imagination.(Bild: Chantall Dorn)

Mouths washed out with soap, teeth knocked out: A harrowing trial before the Feldkirch Magistrates’ Court reveals the brutal ordeal endured by several children. But at the outset, the two accused women deny any guilt, shift the blame onto each other—and speak of revenge.

The spoon is still hot from the boiling water. Then it strikes the bare backs of the three children—again and again. It is just one of many scenes from a childhood that, according to the indictment, should never have happened. In a particularly harrowing case that has been heard before the Feldkirch Magistrates’ Court since Monday, two women from Vorarlberg face up to 15 years in prison.

Chronicle of Horror
The list of allegations is long and reads like a chronicle of horror: In one case, a girl is said to have had two teeth knocked out with a chain. In another, a door was allegedly slammed shut with a child’s fingers caught in it. On the first day of the trial, it became clear: there was no sign of a confession. One of the mothers pleads completely innocent; the other, partially so.

The 50-year-old primary defendant does, at least, admit to giving the daughters cold showers. “I just held the children. But it was my sister-in-law who kept turning the water from warm to cold.” Furthermore, the early retiree insists: “There were arguments, there was yelling—but no violence was used.” During her questioning, she repeatedly slanders the 47-year-old second defendant. She claims that the second defendant hit the children with a wooden spoon two or three times a month, leaving bruises. She also blames her for the incident involving the chain and the knocked-out teeth.

An act of revenge by the children?
She never intervened. “She said, ‘Don’t get involved—that’s my business,’” explains the first defendant, who claims she was afraid of her sister-in-law. Her defense attorney speaks of years of dependency, of threats and beatings directed at his client. A “straightjacket” from which she could not escape. He is seeking an acquittal and suspects that the complaint filed by her own daughters was an act of revenge—the children are said to have been after the public housing apartment of the mother who is now on trial.

Regarding her parenting style, the 47-year-old second defendant remains consistent on the witness stand. “I was strict, but not violent.” Her parenting style, she explained, took the form of bans on television and cell phones or groundings. However, she denied that the incident with the chain ever occurred. That said, she admitted to slapping her own daughter twice, but never the children of her sister-in-law.

Overwhelmed by Parenting After Her Husband’s Death
She describes her own suffering vividly and through tears: After her husband’s sudden death ten years ago, she was devastated and not a good mother. She was so preoccupied with her own struggles that her hand would sometimes slip. “But I never abused the children.” Furthermore, she says she received support from child welfare services for several years after her husband’s death. “If anything had happened, it would have been reported immediately.”

To be continued on Thursday
Her defense attorney urges precision: Each individual allegation must be examined on its own merits; the difficult family situation must not be conflated with specific acts. Two women, two versions of a family in which deep human abysses are said to have opened up. And caught in the middle are children who, to this day, suffer from what is said to have happened behind closed doors. The trial continues on Thursday. Both defendants are presumed innocent.