Fatal abuse - foster mother from Solingen sentenced to almost seven years in prison

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The suspension railway in front of the Wuppertal district court: "The bottom line is that this is a terrible crime," said the judge.

Photo: Otto Krschak / imago / Otto Krschak

The district court in Wuppertal has sentenced a foster mother from Solingen to six years and ten months in prison.

The woman was found guilty of bodily harm resulting in death and mistreatment of wards.

She had confessed to being responsible for the death of her 21-month-old foster child Naelys.

The court also raised serious allegations against the youth welfare offices involved: The 51-year-old was completely unsuitable as a foster mother.

You have massive impulsive and empathetic traits.

Nevertheless, she was assigned foster children.

"That couldn't go well," said the presiding judge Jochen Kötter.

"She should never have had a child," even said the foster mother's defense attorney, Michael Kaps, in his plea.

The institutions and youth welfare offices involved did not inform each other and withheld information about the foster mother from each other.

The prosecutor spoke of an "unprecedented brutal attack on the body of the defenseless child."

"It was not unexpected"

"It's hard to find the right words," said Judge Kötter.

“It's not a tragedy or a catastrophe, it wasn't unexpected.

The law calls it a crime.

And that's probably best. ”It was an extremely serious act that the 51-year-old had committed.

In 2015 she was assigned a little boy.

The judge said the woman had not passed this "endurance test."

A youth welfare worker testified that it was one of the worst nursing conditions she has ever looked after.

They feared for the boy and picked the child up again.

Nevertheless, the woman continued to have children even though she was "responsible for a deterioration in the condition of the children."

After half a year with the foster mother, Naelys was unrecognizable, as the judge said.

A paramedic said: "She looked like a child from a crisis area."

Criticism of the youth welfare offices

Several witnesses were appalled by the way the woman treated the child and even reported that the child was at risk.

But the youth welfare office said that one should not further unsettle the foster mother, but support it.

Time and again, the offices only appeased: “Nobody sees the explosive personality of the accused.

Nobody checks whether it is suitable, ”says the judge.

"That's exactly what you should have done: intervene."

According to the court, the childminder abused the girl on the day of the act because she did not want to eat lentil soup.

She hit the child so hard that it fell off the high chair and was bleeding.

The woman must have hit the child with tremendous force, otherwise the serious internal injuries could not be explained.

Only when she realized that it was getting critical did the foster mother dial the emergency number.

The woman had been described by an expert as a ruthless narcissist.

"The child will be moved, blood will be wiped away - still being able to do that shows exactly the character described," said the judge.

“The bottom line is that it's a terrible crime.” The verdict is not yet final.

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bbr / dpa