The search has been underway for a week for three siblings aged four, eleven and 13 who fled during a police operation on suspicion of child abduction. One of the children, the eleven-year-old boy, has now reappeared. He was traveling with his father. The children’s mother is currently in custody.
The officers went out late on Wednesday evening for an official function in the Ottakring district that had nothing to do with the case of the three children. They met a man with a boy. Because the two were behaving unusually – the father wanted to run away from the police with the child – they were stopped and checked. It turned out that it was the father of the three children, who had been wanted since their disappearance The police wanted to question him “as part of the investigation into the surroundings.” “The eleven-year-old was handed over to his legal guardians,” said Gass, i.e. the city’s child and youth welfare service (MA 11). “The father was questioned. He was unable to provide any information about the whereabouts of the other children and stated that he had nothing to do with the child abduction.” The public prosecutor’s office did not order any further action against the man. The mother lost custody seven months ago. The reason for the operation that led to the children’s disappearance was that the mother had had the children in her care for seven months despite the temporary withdrawal of custody. Due to the mother’s excessive demands, the children did not have a structured daily routine or an adequate home suitable for children, and they only attended school irregularly, said MA-11 spokeswoman Ingrid Pöschmann. There were several reports of danger, and the 38-year-old had also been reported himself turned to the authorities for help. In June 2023, the children were taken to a crisis center. The woman is said to have later “gone into hiding” with her youngest daughter. The two older ones ran away from a shared apartment, probably also to their mother. During the police operation last Thursday – we reported – the authorities only found the two older children. There is a suspicion that the four-year-old girl may have been “roped down” by the woman from a window on the second floor with sheets shortly beforehand. The two siblings also fled on the way to the crisis center.Mother (38) in custodyThe mother was taken into custody last Saturday because of the risk of escape, concealment and the risk of committing a crime. According to police, she refused to make any statement.
source site-12