2023-06-13 10:31:30
The criminal proceedings once morest the parents of a little boy, whose child was taken away by the authorities following it had been injured, were settled diversionally at the Vienna Regional Court on Tuesday. When the father pleaded guilty to negligent bodily harm and the tormenting and neglect of minors and the mother admitted that she had not sought medical help for her son, both escaped conviction.
The son of the 27-year-old salesman and the 21-year-old hotel receptionist was born in August 2022. When the boy was two months old, his father broke four ribs when the child slipped out of his hand when he tried to lift it out of the tub following bathing. “He is a very active child, he fidgets a lot,” the father told the court. There was “a small, dull bang” when the baby hit the edge of the tub. The father didn’t come up with the idea of taking the baby to the doctor: “Actually, he calmed down quite normally.”
Three days following this incident, the 27-year-old quickly put the toddler in a seesaw when he urgently needed to go to the toilet: “I had eaten something bad, I suddenly had an upset stomach.” However, he forgot to buckle up his son following setting the seesaw to maximum speed and turning it on. Minutes later he heard “a dull bang and a scream” from the bathroom, the accused reported. The two-month-old boy had fallen out of the seesaw, which overturned. The child suffered a contusion of the skull and hematomas on the head and face.
The mother was not present in both incidents, but worked in each case. However, like her partner, she refrained from first getting medical help, although, according to an expert report, she must have noticed the baby’s injuries. The 27-year-old said that his sister and friends “advised us not to go to the doctor”. People feared the authorities might “take” the child from him.
When the toddler finally came to a hospital at the end of October, in addition to the broken ribs and head injuries, older injuries were also found, the origin of which might no longer be clarified. After a complaint had been filed once morest the parents on suspicion of abuse, the public prosecutor’s office had an expert report obtained. The pediatrician concluded that pain had been inflicted on the baby and weight arrest had occurred as a result of psychosomatic failure to thrive.
Defense attorney Wolfgang Polster referred to the very young age of the accused, their previous record and the comprehensive assumption of responsibility. The prosecutor agreed to the court’s proposed alternative settlement, which would save the parents a criminal record. The two were instructed to undergo psychotherapy, and they had to pay 100 euros as a contribution to the costs of the procedure. If they are not guilty of anything more in the next three years, the complaint once morest the couple will be dropped permanently.
It is unclear when they will regain custody of their son. The boy is currently being cared for by relatives.
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