Bayreuth – In the rural idyll of the Franconian Forest, in the Upper Franconian market town of Ludwigschorgast (1,000 inhabitants), a nightmare has become a reality. Everyone is in shock after the death of little Paul (2).
How Paul left the kindergarten unnoticed on a Tuesday at the end of July and was able to get to the neighboring property despite a fence and thick vegetation, can no longer be reconstructed beyond any doubt. That doesn’t change anything in the tragic events. Paul drowned in a five-foot-deep pool of water.
The question of what in the 45 minutes or so after Paul’s disappearance until it was found on the neighboring property is the central question for the public prosecutor and the criminal police from Bayreuth. You have initiated a preliminary investigation against the three teachers of the kindergarten on suspicion of negligent homicide.
The teachers, the parents – everyone in Ludwigschorgast knows everyone else
Such a tragic event weighs particularly heavily in the manageable social structures of a community the size of Ludwigschorgast. Everyone here knows everyone, the teachers as well as Paul’s parents, for whom he was a long-awaited child. They needed pastoral care when they learned of their son’s death.
According to a report in the local newspaper, even mayor Doris Leithner-Bisani could not hold back tears, who spoke of a “terrible” incident and still did not lose sight of the teachers. They were completely devastated, she said.
Only three days before Paul’s death there was only laughter and beaming faces in the daycare center. After a comprehensive renovation, the facility was inaugurated with a large celebration in the presence of the children, parents, educators and numerous guests. The deeper the pain over the death of the boy then turned out to be.
Children found Paul dead in the water
According to the investigators’ previous findings, undertook the educators, together with children from the midday care and private individuals, started a search. It was also children who discovered Paul lifeless in the water basin on the neighboring property. First aiders from the rescue service and fire brigade attempted resuscitation – in vain. A little later, the child’s death was found in the intensive care unit of the Bayreuth children’s clinic.
The Kulmbach lawyer Alexander Schmidtgall warns against quick preliminary convictions. He represents those of the three teachers who were specifically responsible for looking after Paul. Purely legal aspects such as the question of whether a breach of the duty of care by his client and her colleagues can be ascertained at all is only one aspect for the experienced criminal defense attorney.
