After the death of a seven-week-old baby, who apparently died of trembling trauma in Salzburg on October 22, the baby’s father was also arrested. The Linz Higher Regional Court upheld the complaint of the prosecutor’s office and placed the 25-year-old in custody. The boy’s 19-year-old mother has been in custody since October 28 on suspicion of murder.
The child’s parents were arrested on October 26. According to the police, they accused each other of violently shaking or hitting the child several times. The prosecutor’s office requested custody of the father and mother. During the detention hearing at the Salzburg Regional Court, the judge decided that the father, unlike the mother, would not be arrested by more lenient means. According to a court spokesman, the man was suspected of “torturing or neglecting minors, young or helpless” but not of murder.
However, prosecutors strongly suspected the 25-year-old of committing the crime of manslaughter by mistake as a collaborator. Therefore, an appeal was lodged against the judge’s decision in the Linz Higher Regional Court. The OLG followed the reasoning of the prosecutor’s office.
The man was ordered to be arrested on Tuesday. The accused turned himself in to the police after discovering him, Salzburg prosecutor’s deputy spokesman Marcus Neher said on Wednesday at the request of the APA.
The child’s father is accused of not intervening in the mother’s actions. “I still believe my client is innocent,” defense attorney Kurt Jelinek told APA. The lawyer pointed out that two courts made different decisions in the father’s case. According to the autopsy results, the child died with a high probability of trembling trauma. The motive for the crime was initially unclear.
In Austria, parents of babies and toddlers who are under severe stress can receive support in outpatient clinics and first aid networks. In Salzburg, at the University Clinic for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, there is an outpatient clinic for crying, sleeping and feeding problems.
