Day two of the horror trial of a 33-year-old Lower Austrian woman and her once best friend in the Krems regional court. The mother is said to have seriously tortured her twelve-year-old son from the summer to November 2022 – on behalf of the second defendant. At the start on Tuesday, the expert who examined Gerhard (name changed) in intensive care – after the Donaustadt Clinic filed a complaint – will speak. A social worker also had her say.
“A few hours later he would most likely have been dead,” the medical examiner said. The former pediatrician was called to the clinic in Donaustadt on November 23, 2022. A few hours earlier, Gerhard had been admitted in a life-threatening condition. The boy was in a coma and was taken to intensive care. “He was extremely emaciated, deeply unconscious and had to be artificially ventilated. The hands and feet were bluish in color,” he reports. The child was severely hypothermic; according to the expert, it had reached level three on the four-level scale. Once he was warmed up, “he could only be kept alive by massive heart support drugs.”
The boy was in severe pain for months
Today, according to the expert, the boy is “currently physically healthy.” He is back to his original weight: 29 kilograms more than the day he was admitted to the hospital. The emotional wounds remain, Gerhard is under strict child psychiatric care. An expert said on Monday that she believes that the now 13-year-old has a “greatly increased chance” that his personality will remain deformed in the future. There is a post-traumatic stress disorder.
When the expert talks about the severe pain that the young victim had to endure every day, the first listeners leave the room. The descriptions are so unbearable.
Social worker as a lifesaver
The first witness in the trial – a social worker – tells how Gerhard was saved at the last minute. She cared for the first defendant in the context of a parenting conversation before 2019. In September 2022, the woman contacted the witness again: “She had questions about Gerhard’s possible transfer to school. It was a confusing phone call.”
The second defendant’s phone call the next day was even stranger. The woman, who was previously unknown to her, told her that the son of the first suspect was in a “precarious condition”. The two women then agreed to meet and drove to the apartment.
Mother ’emotionless’, second defendant ‘scary’
The situation on the ground was “just surreal and bizarre,” the witness said: “I am very scared.” The child was lying on the floor in the room next to the mattress and was unresponsive. According to the witness, it was clear that the boy needed help. Nevertheless, “The mother stood there like a bystander and showed no emotion.” – “Okay, then I’ll just take him to the hospital tomorrow,” the tormentor is said to have said. “It is better if you call the emergency services now,” was a tip from the second defendant. That’s what the mother did.
“She mechanically picked up her cell phone and punched in the data completely emotionless. Like ordering a pizza,” the social worker remembers. “The boy owes his life to you,” Mrs. Rat said to the witness, who also said the following: “If there is one person I cannot figure out at all, it is the second defendant. She was scary to me. Also because she always changed the tone of her voice so strangely.” The woman spoke to the boy in completely inappropriate baby language. However, she gave his mother clear orders.
The assessment by the Youth Care Office raises questions
However, the witness examination of a child and youth care employee raises questions. After a teacher reported a threat on October 25 (she called the office a total of five times), no investigation was conducted until October 28, 2022. Although the boy had his arms bandaged and answered only in monosyllabic answers, there was no one-on-one conversation with the child.
The social workers previously assumed that the boy had a psychological disability. It was not particularly cold in the apartment. However, the social worker did not take off her coat during the forty-minute visit. The mother stated that Gerhard slept in her bed. There would have been no nursery. The child’s thin figure “was not a cause for concern.” The refrigerator had not been checked.
Mystery about the motive
The two accused women follow the explanation in a rigid position. Both have their legs crossed and their hands clasped. There is confusion about the motive of the mother and her ‘inspirer’. However, the impression is created that Gerhard’s mother loved the second defendant very much. She basically did everything she asked, including giving her the money from the terraced house she sold.
The mother of four claims she was afraid of the first defendant
The second defendant, herself a mother of four children, puts this forward differently in the trial and was afraid that the first defendant would do something to her or her family. The 40-year-old even brought a pastor to the trial, who sat in row one right next to a prison guard: “I support her,” the pastor said when the judge asked him about it. Who helped the child in the summer and fall of 2022?
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.
