Terrible deed at Christmas: a woman gives birth to a child and puts it in a garbage can. Almost three quarters of a year later, the 25-year-old has to answer in court in Regensburg.
Regensburg – For the violent death of her newborn daughter, a 25-year-old woman has to face a lawsuit at the Regensburg regional court. The public prosecutor’s office accuses her of murder. Five days of negotiations are planned, starting on Monday.
The body was discovered on Christmas Day 2020 in a garbage container in Regensburg. An autopsy of the body revealed that the baby was viable at birth and did not die of natural causes.
The prosecution assumes that the woman gave birth to the girl in a toilet and cut off the air supply shortly afterwards. Then she is said to have put the unconscious or already dead baby in a plastic bag, then packed it with residual waste in a bag and put it in a garbage can.
The cause of death was reportedly the lack of air supply or hypothermia or a combination of both. The suspect mother, a German national, was in a Regensburg clinic at the time the body was found, where she was arrested. The investigators assumed with the motive that the child stood in the way of the woman’s further life planning.
Just three weeks ago in Schweinfurt, a 27-year-old was sentenced to eight years and three months in prison for manslaughter of her newborn child. She hadn’t taken care of the baby and let it die. The defense appealed against the judgment.
There are no reliable figures on homicides against newborns – so-called neonaticides – in Germany. The German Youth Institute (DJI) assumes at least 20 to 35 cases per year – and a “not very low” number of unreported cases.
The Ministry of Family Affairs, churches, social services and municipalities offer advice for pregnant women in emergencies, including services such as baby hatches, adoption or anonymous births. dpa
