Mother starved one-year-old to death

Crime - Mother starved one-year-old to death - life imprisonment

The defendant accepted the verdict motionlessly, but sank deeper and deeper into her chair during the hour-long hearing. Life imprisonment for the murder of her one-year-old son was the sentence handed down by Judge Peter Goebels on Tuesday against the 24-year-old from Güstrow, who appeared at the 18th day of the trial in Rostock District Court wearing fresh make-up, a green parker and shackles.

The woman let her son, who was suffering from acute diarrhea, die of thirst and starvation. She had grossly neglected her duty of care, according to the criminal court. The toddler was strapped into a child car seat on the night of his death in September 2021. The mother, meanwhile, spent the night with her boyfriend and neighbor just one floor above her apartment without taking care of the boy.

"The children were a disruptive factor for her"

The defendant had accepted the risk of death and the possible death of the child because she had been on a date with her boyfriend and had subordinated everything to him, according to the judge. The woman had acted out of pure selfishness. She had written WhatsApp messages for hours. She had also severely neglected her then four-year-old son. "The children were a disruptive factor for her." When the woman was with her boyfriend, there was a baby monitor. However, this was either not in use or she simply ignored it.

The German woman left the two children alone and unattended in the apartment on the evening of the night of the crime. The one-year-old died on the night of September 20, 2021 as a result of severe diarrhea and severe fluid loss due to a clot in the pulmonary arteries. The mother had never been incapable of controlling the child and had known that the child needed a lot of fluids during diarrhea. According to the judge, she only had to go down a few steps to check on the boy. "They could have interrupted their fling." But she had not wanted to.

When she left her neighbor's apartment in the early hours of the morning and went back to her own apartment, the 24-year-old lay down in the living room without checking on the children. It was only when she woke up around midday that she discovered the death of the 13-month-old child. According to the coroner's office, the death occurred between midnight and 9.00 a.m.

Severe neglect

The forensic expert also stated that the autopsy of the corpse showed "clear signs of starvation". The mother had not provided adequate nutrition for the child's age. "The child was simply starving," said the judge. During the child's only stay with her, the childminder reported that the child had devoured two portions and was "fixated on food like a little tiger".

The slightly older brother was only rarely brought to the daycare center by the mother. In some months he was there only once, in others seven times, in some months not at all. The mother always had lies and excuses as to why the children did not go to daycare or to the childminder. In the meantime, she had been assigned a family helper. The judge also criticized official failures: "The youth welfare office failed completely here." The defendant's six-year-old son has been living with the child's father since September 2021.

With the sentence, the court followed the prosecution's request. The defense lawyer had demanded a conviction for involuntary manslaughter and a prison sentence of no more than one year and six months for his client, the execution of which should be suspended on probation. The verdict is not yet final.