A woman who allegedly abused three of her stepchildren for years was sentenced by the Salzburg court on Wednesday. The woman was sentenced to nine years in prison for persistent violence. She was acquitted of another child.
The second accused father, who had also been charged with persistent violence by the prosecutor, was sentenced to three months for assault and coercion. The stepmother must also pay 8,000 euros in compensation for each of the three children.
According to court spokesman Peter Egger, the verdicts are not yet final. Neither the two previously innocent defendants, who pleaded innocent, nor the prosecutor made a statement. The trial (presided over by Anna-Sophia Geisselhofer) over allegations of parental violence between 2009 and 2018 began in June of the previous year.
Today four children between 16 and 23 years old
According to the indictment, four children between the ages of 16 and 23 have been abused for years by their father and stepmother and draconianly punished for minor things. During the trial, the accused strongly denied the allegations and said it was difficult to explain the incriminating statements made by the children.
Father had sole authority
The man is the biological father of the children. In 2006 the mother divorced, the employee was given sole custody and initially raised the children alone. In 2008, his new partner moved in with him. After the marriage, the two would have developed a parenting style that, according to prosecutor Ricarda Eder, was likely to affect the physical and psychological integrity of the children.
Tied up with tape
So there should have been blows several times a week. Children were pushed down the stairs, one of the boys was tied up with tape for a day. There was also hours of crouching and standing like tin soldiers, sometimes outside in the cold. As punishment, the children were locked in their room for days and at least one son was said to have been placed naked against the wall for hours. The parents took pictures of this and threatened to show the pictures to the children’s friends. In addition, the father is said to have showered the children several times with ice-cold water and to have pressed a son’s head into the full rain barrel more often.
The charge is based on the credible information of the victims and is supported by witnesses, the prosecutor said. According to an expert report, it is impossible to estimate what the consequences will be for the children. “The lack of basic confidence will ultimately be to the detriment of the children,” she quoted the newspaper. The children also threatened to be placed in a home if they did not present the family as perfect to youth care.
“I love my four children”
The defendants denied the allegations. “I love – although this load is there – my four children. But I don’t understand much of this,” said the man. He and his wife usually imposed bans on television and mobile phones as punishment. He took over from his own mother to make the children do a few squats for lack of exercise or to stand like tin soldiers as punishment. “So that they can think about what they have done. But for a maximum of 15 minutes.”
There have only been two blows in his children’s lives, and they were not out of spite or routine. Once, in 2004, his ex-wife was responsible, in 2012 his new wife, because a son had behaved completely irresponsibly at the time. The couple’s lawyer said the family was guided by a child welfare expert for 16 years. “She didn’t notice it, although she was explicitly aware of the strict upbringing methods.” In addition, one of the four children said that what the siblings said was not true. The lawyer had demanded acquittal for his clients.
Stepmother works in daycare
The stepmother, who works in a daycare, admitted the blow. Otherwise, she denied any wrongdoing she was accused of. Then how do you explain the allegations? A daughter was always jealous, the woman said. “I felt that. She always felt neglected. She got the least amount of time and attention from me.” She believes that the daughter influenced her siblings, while the father, on the other hand, suspected his ex-wife, “She turned the children’s heads,” he said at the trial.
Source: Krone
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