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Flensburg district court: indictment as early as 2017
Photo: Axel Heimken / dpa
More than six years after the death of a four-month-old baby on Sylt, its 52-year-old father has been sentenced to nine years in prison for manslaughter.
The district court in Flensburg saw it as proven that the man had shaken his son in his apartment in 2016 and thus caused his death.
The crime happened in early September 2016 on the North Sea island of Sylt, where the Polish-born defendant worked as a craftsman.
The child's mother also lived and worked on Sylt at the time, but both lived separately.
At the time of the crime, the father took care of the child, the mother was working.
As early as 2016, the autopsy of the four-month-old boy found that the child died as a result of violence.
According to the police, the baby was then picked up by the ambulance service from the parents on the island.
After the fact, the father had gotten help himself from his boss at the time.
Six months waived to compensate for lengthy proceedings
The accused denied the allegations in the process and stated, among other things, that the baby had choked on milk and that he wanted to save him.
According to the court spokesman, the court considered this to be refuted with reference to forensic assessments.
The verdict is not yet legally binding.
The court issued six months of imprisonment as compensation for the length of the proceedings.
They are considered already served.
The case was already charged in 2017, but the process was delayed because it was not initially a matter of detention.
The accused, who was back in Poland, was released for lack of reasons for detention.
That only changed in the summer of last year because official summonses from the court no longer reached the accused at his address in the neighboring country.
The court assumed that there was a risk of absconding and had him taken into custody.
He was then transferred to Germany, and the trial against the man finally began in early January.
The verdict corresponded to the demand of the public prosecutor's office, the defense had requested an acquittal.
Apr/AFP
