A year ago, a seven-year-old died in a houseboat fire in Schiersteiner Hafen. Now the girl’s father has to answer for negligent homicide and serious arson in court.
A seven-year-old girl died on March 6, 2022 in a houseboat fire in Schiersteiner Hafen. The public prosecutor accuses the child’s father of serious arson and negligent homicide. The trial before the district court in Wiesbaden started on Monday.
It was also “a special procedure” for her, said judge Julia Denne. If he needed a break, he should let me know, she offered the accused. The 40-year-old looked visibly upset, always burst into tears and put his hands in front of his face. “Would you say you made a mistake?” asked the judge. “Of course,” replied the father, who has not yet sought therapeutic help after the dramatic accident in which his daughter died in the fire. “The fear of processing keeps him from it,” said his public defender.
The prosecutor’s indictment reads what happened that Sunday morning in the port of Schierstein as follows: The accused filled a fuel tank with petrol in the cabin of the converted steel barge, which also contained his seven-year-old daughter. He did not pay attention to the fact that an electric heater was switched on. When he went to the bow of the ship, the boat began to sway and the petrol can in the cabin overturned. Shortly thereafter, fuel ignited when it came into contact with the heater, and there was probably a deflagration. “I wanted to drop the anchor because the boat had drifted away,” said the 40-year-old. Suddenly he heard a bang and saw a fireball coming out of the cabin. He fell into the water and couldn’t get on board to save his daughter. He couldn’t explain why the fire broke out. “I had switched off the generator for the heating.”
A lifeguard from the fire department reported that the man clung to the boat with all his might, even though he was severely hypothermic. It was difficult to bring him ashore. “My daughter is in there!” he kept calling out.
Traces of cannabis and amphetamines were later found in the suspect’s blood. The 40-year-old admitted that he had used narcotics from time to time, including the day before the boat fire. “But I wasn’t affected.”
The family was on file with the police. In the past, there had also been notifications to the youth welfare office, said a police officer as a witness. In December 2021, a patrol from the water police noticed that the child was dressed very thinly on the boat at night and was not wearing a life jacket.
Since the death of his daughter, he has been living on welfare, the father said. “I have blackouts and concentration problems, can’t work.” After the boat fire, he said he no longer touched alcohol or drugs.
The process will be continued on April 12th and 19th in the district court of Wiesbaden. It starts at 10 a.m. each day.
