When a 41-year-old Iraqi woman was attacked with a knife in Linz on Monday, the Romanian’s 11-year-old daughter is said to have saved her mother. Sonja Hörmanseder of the Upper Austrian Crisis Aid knows that children who witness crimes suffer particularly badly.
Flashback to Monday 6:40 am on Wiener Strasse in Linz: Mother (42) and daughter (11) were about to leave the apartment building when their husband (41) ambushed them in the stairwell. As reported, the Iraqi immediately pushed them both back into the apartment and strangled the Romanian. The eleven-year-old bravely threw herself at her stepfather to stop him. He stabbed her mother three times with a kitchen knife.
The desperate daughter kept trying to stop the man. The woman was then able to tear herself away and call the police with her mobile phone. When this started, the attacker fled.
“Children often shut themselves off completely”
How can a child mentally cope with such a horror? Sonja Hörmanseder, head of the Crisis Relief Department of Upper Austria, says: “In such situations, children very often close down completely and isolate themselves because they are overwhelmed by their sadness and despair. In a case like this in Linz, the fact that several levels are at stake also plays a role. The stepfather attacks the mother. The child does not understand the background of the couple relationship.” Children often tried to distract themselves, for example by playing.
How can I help? “The most important things are a safe place, a confidant, and someone who is psychologically trained,” says Hörmanseder. The trauma often requires long-term care.
Source: Krone
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