The jury is deliberating in the Krems regional court about the verdicts for the Lower Austrian mother who tortured her son (12) almost to death in a dog crate and her co-accused “instructor”. The two women from the Waldviertel, once “soul mates”, blamed each other during the trial.
Although they didn’t look at each other during the trial, the two accused women sat next to each other in the dock in the same posture over the three days of the trial: with their right leg crossed over their left, their hands clasped, they stared fixedly at Judge Monika Fasching-Lattus .Crying fits “not out of remorse”While the second accused mother of four (40) repeatedly falls into crying fits, the 33-year-old direct perpetrator shows no emotion. “The outbursts of tears are not out of remorse. The tears are due to the fear of consequences,” victim lawyer Timo Ruisinger reprimands the accomplice in his closing statement. Prosecutor Anna Weißenböck once again summarizes the terrible crime: “The two women tortured a 12-year-old child almost to death in 2022. They destroyed Gerhard (not his real name), at least mentally.” Before the jury retired to deliberate on the third day of the trial, court psychiatrist Peter Hofmann had his say – his remarks are a key moment in the trial. Because the two defendants in the LG Krems court failed to answer “Why?” Expert Hofmann: “Deeply sadistic elements” Her mentally disturbed child was a “huge challenge” for the first defendant, says Hofmann. When the woman met the second defendant after her mother died in 2019, she became “deeply dependent” on her. “My client was in her thrall,” says defense attorney Astrid Wagner. If the first defendant was manipulated in this way by her “soul mate” and instructed by her to commit the terrible acts, then it was based on a “lust for power with deep sadistic elements,” explains Hofmann. The experienced psychiatric expert speaks of a “monstrous crime” and “mental depths.” “I think the first defendant was in love with my client and blamed Gerhard for the fact that it didn’t work. That’s why she hated the child,” says Sascha Flatz, defense attorney for the mother of four. “I’m sorry for what happened,” said Gerhard’s mother on the day of the verdict. – “Nothing happened. “You did something quite consciously!” the public prosecutor reacts indignantly. At 3 p.m. the jury retired to deliberate. Judgment pending.
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