Icon: enlarge
Defendant Sandra M .: "Unsuitable" for the profession of educator
Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd / dpa
Sandra M. has been in custody for 182 days.
This Tuesday, police officers lead the young woman into room A100 of the Mönchengladbach Regional Court.
In these 182 days nothing leaked out of what M. reported to her two lawyers.
Not from her work as an educator in day care centers in Krefeld, Kempen, Tönisvorst and Viersen;
not of her relationship with the boys and girls who were entrusted to her.
Not a word about the allegations that the Mönchengladbach public prosecutor's office is raising against Sandra M.: That she tortured four children in a cruel way until one of them died.
Accordingly, the hope of Gretas, Leos *
,
Ahmeds * and Fridas * parents
is likely
to find out in this circumstantial trial against Sandra M. why their children experienced such a disaster in a place where they should be protected.
The parents appear as joint plaintiffs in the proceedings.
Some of them appear in the courtroom that day, take a seat next to their lawyers, across from Sandra M.
You see a short person with dark, longer hair, 25 years old.
Your eyes are tearful.
She can't hold back the tears for long.
Sandra M. is charged with the suspicion of the murder of Greta and the mistreatment of Leo, Ahmed and Frida.
The presiding judge Lothar Beckers asks Sandra M .: Born in Kempen?
- Yes.
German citizens?
- Yes.
Not married?
- Yes.
Abuse according to a fixed pattern
Then prosecutor Stefan Lingens presents the allegations against Sandra M., which are said to have occurred between August 2017 and April 2020 in various facilities.
Always according to the same scheme: Sandra M. is said to have squeezed the toddlers' chests while changing diapers or while they were sleeping in the afternoon until they suffered considerable shortness of breath or even stopped breathing.
Lingens said she accepted the death of the children at least approvingly.
Sandra M. always pointed out the critical condition of the children to colleagues after the abuse and in this way set a chain of rescue in motion that ensured the survival of the children - except in the case of the three-year-old Greta.
Prosecutor Lingens lists the individual days on which Sandra M. is said to have tormented the almost three-year-old Leo in the family center in Krefeld until he twitched, gasped, bled from his mouth and his small body stiffened.
Sandra M. was completing her year of recognition at the facility.
An emergency call was made three times and Leo was saved three times.
Sandra M. was alone with Greta
She is said to have squeezed the chest of two-year-old Ahmed four times in a day-care center in Kempen, to the point of breathing arrest and lifelessness.
Sandra M. was meanwhile a teacher.
The boy suffered convulsions, and an emergency doctor saved his life four times.
In a daycare center in Tönisvorst, Sandra M. is said to have compressed the chest of three-year-old Frida, who suffered from a congenital heart defect, until the child turned blue, rolled his eyes and lost consciousness.
Sandra M. called a colleague again, who reanimated the girl until an ambulance arrived.
On April 21 of this year, Sandra M. was alone with Greta at the »Steinkreis« daycare center in Viersen.
At 1:20 p.m., according to public prosecutor Lingens, an educator put the child down for an afternoon nap and left the house.
Because of the corona pandemic, the facility was officially closed, Sandra M. accompanied the emergency care as an educator.
During the afternoon nap, Sandra M. is said to have compressed the girl's chest until she stopped breathing, as in the previous cases.
When the emergency doctor arrived, the child no longer had any vital functions, says Lingens.
It could then be reanimated, but despite intensive medical treatment, he died of brain damage one day after his third birthday.
"Emotionless and apathetic"
It is quiet in room A100.
In the audience, some viewers shed tears, around two dozen media representatives accompanied the start of the process.
Greta's mother looks at Sandra M., who is still crying.
April 21 was her last working day at the day care center in Viersen, as planned.
Sandra M. had given notice on April 30th.
The suspicion fell on her because the city youth welfare office commissioned a forensic medical report while Greta was still alive.
Doctors had discovered pinhead-sized hemorrhages in the girl's tissue and filed a complaint.
Investigators quickly found out that Sandra M. had been employed in four different daycare centers for almost two and a half years - and had attracted attention.
Various superiors and colleagues described Sandra M. to the investigators as "unsuitable" for the job of educator.
She is said to have behaved "emotionless and apathetic" in particular towards the children.
She has already undergone a psychiatric examination, her defense lawyer Ingo Herbort told SPIEGEL.
Sandra M. will provide information about her person in the process, Herbort announced.
He and his colleague will also give a brief explanation of the matter.
Will Sandra M. admit the allegations?
Will she portray Greta's death as an accident because in the cases before it always went well at the last second?
"She is not alive, she only exists"
Attorney Marie Lingnau is representing Greta's mother in the secondary suit.
She stands in front of the courtroom and speaks into the microphones: “My client says she's not alive, she just exists.
Greta has two brothers who need their mom.
She tries to be there for her. ”Greta was a happy, fun-loving child who liked to go to daycare.
"Your mother is hoping for an explanation of why she had to die in the very place where she loved to be and felt protected."
The co-prosecutor of another couple wants to clarify the process: How did these "heinous crimes" come about?
Why haven't individual authorities agreed with each other?
Prosecutor Lingens explains that it was only after Greta's death that the behavior of educator Sandra M. came into focus and that other employers were then contacted.
The alleged acts only came out "gradually" in the course of the investigation.
When asked whether further proceedings are to be expected, Lingens says that other educators and youth welfare offices »no criminal behavior« can be identified.
About the motive that Sandra M. could have had, Lingens says: Sandra M., as a witness at the beginning of the investigation, claimed that she found Greta in this condition and could not explain how it came about.
Since she was suspected of having killed Greta, she was silent.
The jury court in Mönchengladbach has scheduled 19 trial days for the trial until March, and more than 20 witnesses are to be heard.
* The names of the children have been alienated, but are known to the editors.
Icon: The mirror