For years, the parents of a boy who drowned while rowing six years ago fought over a lawsuit. Now the supervisors at the time in Starnberg are on trial.
Starnberg (dpa) – Six years after the death of a 13-year-old during rowing training on Lake Starnberg, the boy’s supervisor at the time has to answer in court today. The accusation: negligent homicide through omission.
The two leaders had completed a training session with 20 children on that April day, 2015. According to reports, the weather conditions were difficult with a lot of wind and waves. The 13-year-old practiced alone in a boat without a life jacket or wetsuit, initially near the jetty. Away from the group, he drowned unnoticed in the eight-degree water.
The boy’s absence was only noticed when the father came to pick him up that evening after training. Days later, the child’s body was found, almost half a kilometer from the bank.
Prosecutors believe the boy left his assigned area and drove more than a kilometer south. The inexperienced rower then did not manage to row back against the wind and decided to swim to the bank 400 meters away. In the only eight degrees cold water, however, he had cooled down, passed out and drowned.
The public prosecutor’s office accuses the coaches of not constantly observing him during training. Rather, they drove a motorboat to other boats of the youth training group at another point on the lake – out of sight of the 13-year-old. According to the prosecutors, the two should have expected that the boy would need help and could endanger his life.
The dead boy’s parents fought for a criminal trial for years. The public prosecutor’s office had originally charged the matter with the Munich II regional court – but it referred the matter to the local court. On March 17, 2020, a local judge then closed the proceedings against the two supervisors against monetary requirements of 50,000 euros and 12,000 euros in favor of charitable organizations.
The Munich II public prosecutor’s office and the accessory prosecution filed a complaint. The Regional Court of Munich II, as the competent board of appeal, thereupon revoked the decision of the local court to discontinue the proceedings and ordered the files to be sent back to Starnberg. The ball was back in the district court, which is now dealing with the boy’s death again.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210621-99-75677 / 4
