Ego trip or act of desperation?

child abduction process

Created: 09/27/2022Updated: 09/27/2022 18:36

Handcuffs are stuck in the belt clip of a law enforcement officer.

© Friso Gentsch/dpa/symbol image

The parents separate.

The struggle to deal with their son begins and does not end to this day.

It culminates in the kidnapping of the child to Panama.

The father now has to answer for this in court.

In this case there are only losers.

Pforzheim - "It was hell," says the mother.

"I wanted to protect him," says the father.

A family law drama surrounding the kidnapping of a child to Panama unfolded in front of the district court in Pforzheim on Tuesday.

The boy's 50-year-old father was accused of bringing the 11-year-old to Panama.

Actually, he should have handed him over to his mother after a Christmas vacation.

The court sentenced the man to three years in prison.

The judge credited him with his confession.

But it weighed heavily that the father had accepted the suffering of his child.

The expert had attested the child to have massive post-traumatic stress disorder and advised against contact with the father.

To this day, the father has not apologized to his son.

But that would be the least that would have to happen before a relationship could develop between the two again.

The boy had not previously been questioned publicly, but had made no statement.

The father admitted the allegation of child abduction shortly after the trial began.

He had no choice, he said.

His voice cracked whenever the subject of his son came up.

"I'm so sorry about all this, especially for my son," he says through tears.

After the expert's impressive description of the boy's severe psychological damage, he promised to stop the quarrels in the family court.

his child"It wasn't ideal, I know that."

The child's mother is present at the trial as a joint plaintiff.

"Our life will never be the same again," she says before the negotiations begin.

"No one can imagine what we went through." There have always been arguments about dealings, her ex-partner has constantly gone to court and will continue to do so.

"I know him," she says.

The child has been living with his mother since his father was arrested in Panama in February.

The defendant, who lives in North Rhine-Westphalia, calls the act an act of desperation.

After the separation, he tried for six years to maintain a normal relationship with his child.

But his mother had moved with him seven times, "each time further away".

The time we spent together had been cut down more and more.

A longtime friend of the accused, who was questioned as a witness, defended him with commitment.

"He was the best father you can imagine." But when he was only allowed to see his son every four weeks, he fell silent and didn't talk much about it anymore.

Both the friend and the current partner of the 50-year-old were surprised by a planned trip to Panama, as she says in court.

They had believed that the man was with his son at his grandmother's in Belgium, the father's home country.

"He never planned the Panama thing long in advance," says the defendant's girlfriend.

The 50-year-old traveled from Belgium to Panama via Amsterdam, where he lived in various hotels with the child.

He was wanted with an international arrest warrant and finally arrested.

He has been in custody since his extradition to Germany.

Speculations that he was an opponent of vaccination and therefore kidnapped his son are not confirmed in court.

Her friend is "vaccination-critical," says his girlfriend.

"But not a lateral thinker." The ex-partner and child's mother also sees it that way.

According to his own statement, he has been vaccinated twice against Corona.

also read

"Get lost": Ricarda Lang is booed and insulted by crowds during visits

Ricarda Lang is criticized for the Oktoberfest picture: "Between mountains of meat, beer tankards and corona viruses"

The man has no real answer to the expert's questions as to what triggered the kidnapping in the eleven-year-old.

He obviously finds it difficult to take responsibility and see the child's perspective.

His lawyer keeps stepping in to convey to the court that his client has made the biggest mistake of his life.

"I'd like to hear that from you," the judge says to the accused.

The son's hearing is due at noon.

The public is excluded at the request of the mother and with the consent of all those involved.

Before the trial is interrupted, the accused makes a statement, which he probably makes after consulting his lawyer.

"I hope my son can forgive me." He cries.

He no longer has contact with his son.

dpa