The drama of little Mya moves all of Austria. After a brain haemorrhage, she will likely remain disabled forever. The bad suspicion: her mother would have caused her serious injuries. The baby’s father now speaks in the “Krone”.
Everything looks friendly – in this 90 square meter cooperative apartment in Vienna-Favoriten. With the boxes and display cases in bright colours; the beautifully framed family photos on the walls; the cozy couch; the freshly cleaned parquet floor, with brightly painted boxes full of toys in the corners of the room.
“I just shook her pelvis”
“My wife and I,” says Thomas K. (name changed) in a broken voice as he sits down at the wooden table in the kitchen, “just wanted our kids to grow up in a nice environment.”
But precisely here, in this apparently so positive atmosphere, a terrible act is said to have taken place on July 28: Thomas K’s partner Stefanie A. then – according to the police – shook her four-month-old daughter Mya en masse, resulting in a brain haemorrhage in her caused and also caused injuries to her hip and a forearm.
The responsibility of the 28-year-old? The girl cried a lot on this “fateful day”, around 8 p.m., in her overwhelm – the child was in the bed of his five-year-old brother – she “grabbed it for a moment by the pelvis and shook it”.
One thing is certain: since an emergency operation on July 29 in the morning of the AKH, the little one has to be treated in intensive care. To date, she has barely moved, her eyes are mostly closed.
Her doctors believe she will have a mental and physical disability.
Permanent physical and mental damage
The desperate father constantly visits the baby in the hospital. “It breaks my heart to see it in this state,” he sobs. And no, the 29-year-old claims Stefanie is wearing “I’m sure” not to blame for the drama.
The trained receptionist – she is now in custody on suspicion of attempted murder – “could do no harm to any of our children. Please believe me, she has always been the best mother in the world to you.” Postscript: “And for me the best wife.”
“We’ve always been a happy couple”
The couple’s story? Stefanie A. and Thomas K. – both parents are from the Philippines, were born in Austria themselves – got to know each other in 2009 through an acquaintance, “first we were just friends, we often went to the cinema or to a coffee house”.
She worked there in a hotel, he in a shipping office. “Over time, we fell in love. In 2011, we decided to start a relationship and introduced each other to our families.” Who, in addition to the same background and strong religiosity, had a lot in common: the mothers and two of Stefanie’s three siblings work in nursing, the fathers in positions of responsibility in camps.
“And all of us,” recalls Thomas K., an only child, “quickly became one big family.” They celebrated festivals together, attended Sunday Mass, traveled and vacationed. In 2016, when the woman became pregnant with a boy, Stefanie and I moved into our own apartment. First a little one, later “to have enough space for our expected baby”, the favorites in Vienna: “We were so happy there.”
Why not a wedding? “Thomas always said that Stefanie deserved a very beautiful wedding”, an older sister of the 28-year-old joins in the conversation, “and only when he had saved enough money for it would he marry her.”
The man nods and then starts talking about oppressive things. The son was born two months premature. “He had serious health problems.”
Which at some point, however, could “be brought under control”. Really, Michael (not his real name) developed into a smart kid. Who was “extremely happy” when he found out last fall that he was going to have a sibling.
‘We feared for the life of Mya for weeks’
“And Stefanie and I, full of happiness, started preparing our house for the arrival of our second child.” In January 2022, the shocking news came: from now on, the woman must remain in the hospital and, above all, lie down, otherwise there is a risk of losing the baby.
Mya gave birth by cesarean section on March 14, nine weeks early. Bleeding had already started in her brain; her death could only be prevented by extensive medical measures. “Stefanie and I worried about her for months,” Thomas K. recalls crying.
Ultimately, the little one was diagnosed with spherical cell anemia. Therefore, she was examined once a week at the Sankt Anna Children’s Hospital and occasionally received blood transfusions.
And when she slept in her crib, her parents hooked her up to a heart rate monitor so they could react quickly if her condition worsened.
“And yes,” says Thomas K., “of course we were concerned about Mya around the clock.” Even more than on July 20, it was discovered during a routine checkup at the hospital – where her father had taken her that she was corona positive: “Due to her previous illness, the doctors thought that hospitalization was appropriate, I stayed with her. “
“Suddenly our Mya had a heart rate over 200”
How did the infection manifest itself in the girl? “With mild fever, vomiting and diarrhea.” On July 24, Mya was released into home care. “Stefanie and I never took our eyes off her.”
Mr. K., how did July 28, the alleged day of the crime, end? “My wife and I got up early, while she looked after our children, I first drove to the company where I had taken a new job to sign the employment contract. For lunch we ate pasta prepared by Stefanie with Michael and gave our daughter a bottle. Then I went shopping, cleaned up the apartment; often went to the basement where I stored discarded clothes.”
Thomas K. was also, Stefanie A. stated during the interrogation, “downstairs” around 8 p.m.; that is, the moment she wants her daughter to be “shaken” because she kept screaming – “I was not myself, I do not know how it happened that I lost my nerves”. Before retiring to the bathroom for 15 minutes “to calm down”.
Thomas K. “quickly came back up and put Mya to bed,” the woman said. The couple also went to bed at 11pm. “Stefanie and I woke up around midnight,” the 29-year-old recalled.
Because Mya’s heart rate monitor hit: “She suddenly had a heart rate above 200, we panicked and called the emergency services.”
It took almost an hour and a half for a car equipped with the necessary special equipment to transport the child – “it was already cramping”. In the AKH the diagnosis: cerebral haemorrhage. An emergency operation. The girl was put into artificial deep sleep. “Stefanie and I then went to Mya in the hospital several times a day, alternately or together.” Further examinations of the baby eventually led to the strong suspicion that his injuries had been caused by a vibratory trauma.
Arrested after going to church
The couple’s first interrogations will take place on August 4. On August 9, the woman was arrested “after she had just gone to church to pray for Mya.”
The 28-year-old is now in Josefstadt prison. “She is in a bad mental state,” her lawyer Astrid Wagner reports: “She cries a lot; insists she only ‘shaked’ her daughter a little.
Little Michael knows nothing about his family’s drama. “I told him that his sister is a bit sick and that is why his mother has to be with her in the hospital for a few weeks. I just can’t tell him the truth,” his father sobbed.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
