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Thuringian judiciary (symbolic image): Three years in prison for 33-year-olds
Photo: arifoto UG/ dpa
A 33-year-old has been sentenced to three years in prison because, according to the regional court in Meiningen, Thuringia, he shook his five-week-old baby to death.
The judges found the man guilty of assault resulting in death, a court spokeswoman said.
According to the findings of the criminal court, the man had shaken his son so violently in May last year that he had suffered a shaking trauma, i.e. severe head injuries.
The child died a few days later.
Defense had pleaded for acquittal
With its judgment, the court fully complied with the request of the public prosecutor's office.
They had accused the man from the Sonneberg area in the indictment of manslaughter, but after the evidence was taken it was assumed that it was bodily harm resulting in death.
The defendant's defense had pleaded for an acquittal.
According to "Bild", the man said in court that he woke up from his sleep because his son was wheezing.
He patted him on the back, then panicked and shook him.
The boy slipped out of his arm and fell to the ground.
ptz/AFP