Icon: enlarge
Defendant before the Würzburg district court
Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / dpa
In a trial for the violent death of a baby in Bavaria, a man was sentenced to eleven years imprisonment for manslaughter before the Würzburg district court.
The presiding judge said the eight-month-old infant "died a terrible death by force at the defendant's hand."
The chamber assumes that the now 24-year-old mistreated and suffocated the son of his girlfriend at the time from the Gemünden am Main area shortly before Christmas 2019.
The court spoke of a criminal case that "could hardly be increased in tragedy and grief".
The defendant has always denied the allegations.
"Reporting abuse is a civic duty"
The youth welfare office is not complicit, judged the presiding judge, rather the knowing environment should have reacted earlier.
He emphasized: "To report abuse is a civic duty."
In his plea, the defense attorney had spoken out in favor of a prison sentence of seven years for bodily harm resulting in death, the public prosecutor had pleaded for a prison sentence of twelve years for manslaughter.
Originally the man was charged with murder.
A psychiatric expert had determined his full culpability in the course of the process.
The judgment is not yet final, the parties to the dispute can apply for an appeal within a week.
Icon: The mirror
apr / dpa