Seven weeks after his birth, Elias died of a shocking trauma. The mother accused of murder sees herself more as a victim than a perpetrator. The father is responsible for Elias’ death. The jury will reach a verdict on Thursday. There is a risk of life imprisonment and confinement in an institution.
Born September 4, 2022, died October 22. Elias had only been on this world for seven weeks. When prosecutor Elena Haslinger pressed charges, the two defendants wept: she, aged 20, had cut short her apprenticeship and had a criminal record. He, 25 years old, dropped out of his apprenticeship, worked as a waiter, had a criminal record. But: he already has two children and she has psychological problems.
“Seven to ten times she shook the child violently and hit her in the face. He did not prevent it and only watched,” says the prosecutor. The couple lived in a room of 21 square meters at the time a house in Salzburg.On the fateful day, they argued about who should feed the baby.The father asked the mother to finally take care of Elias.
Parents blame each other during the process
Then she would have shaken and beat the baby – dead, it turned out later. Because they had both fallen asleep again. Before that, Elias had been repeatedly beaten, shaken and choked for four weeks, Haslinger reports about the abuse.
The 20-year-old is not only charged with murder, but also with persistent violence. The father is charged with negligent homicide by the Salzburg Regional Court: “He disregarded the duty of care,” the indictment said.
Before the jury on Thursday, the mother said: “It was him.” The father did everything – he took care of the baby, but also beat him and only he was responsible for the death of Elias by shaking.
Mother diagnosed with mental disorder
And in a trembling and tearful voice she says, “He beat me too and locked me up.” But she said nothing to authorities out of “fear of him”. She experienced violence in her own “not so nice” childhood. But she doesn’t want anything wrong with her son, she explains, and often bursts into sobs when she explains.
The judge responds to her with statements in which she admits to hitting Elias during the police interrogation. “I got an incentive”, the chairman quotes from the minutes. The 20-year-old herself defends that she only said that to protect her boyfriend at the time. In the jury room, she denied whether she would have preferred a daughter: “I didn’t care about the gender.”
‘Never hit Elias“
This is how the accused father tried to explain the “hatred of Elijah”. He also urges the jury, “I never hit Elias.” But he did see the mother once. And he also wants to have intervened when it vibrates.
In any case, experts see aggression problems, violent fantasies and an extremely unstable psyche in the 20-year-old. The well-known Austrian neuropsychiatrist Peter Hofmann recommends admission because of a combined personality disorder. The case continues on Thursday.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
