Liam was only four days old: Because of fatal beatings against a baby, the district court of Osnabrück sentenced the father of the child to a prison sentence of twelve years. The court said the offense was a manslaughter, said the chairman Judge Ingo Frommeyer.
The 25-year-old defendant had beaten his son when washing in the bathroom in May last year, among other things, at least four times massive with the palm of the hand against the head, which ultimately was the cause of death.
The defendant acted out of anger and overwork because the child fidgeted with the washing, Frommeyer said. The judge described at length the numerous injuries that clinicians and coroners had found on little Liam. These included hematomas on the head, a cut under the left eye, which a referee assigned to a ring on a finger of the defendant, but also a hematoma on the penis and an injury in the neck.
"Accepting his death"
For what reason exactly the drug- and alcohol-dependent father slammed on May 15, the chamber ultimately could not determine. The accused tends to respond to stressful situations with violence against others, the judge stated. So he had beaten his girlfriend and the child's mother in a fight on Tuesday just before he had washed his child and injured. This had then withdrawn into the bedroom and heard nothing of the violence.
Surveyors had found that the defendant, despite consuming drugs was not diminished, but could estimate the consequences of his action. "They did not want to kill Liam, but you accepted his death," Frommeyer said. The defendant should use in detention offers for social therapy and vocational training to process the act, advised the presiding judge.
The verdict is not yet legally binding. The defense lawyer announced that it would first appeal and then examine the written opinion. He had applied for eight years in prison.