Dog Crate Case: Neighbor Released After New Expert Opinion

In the Waldviertel dog crate case - a mother had locked her then twelve-year-old son in such a container, for which she received a 20-year prison sentence and was additionally placed in a forensic-therapeutic center - the neighbor is no longer in preventive detention. As the instigator, the woman received a 14-year prison sentence and was also admitted to a forensic-therapeutic center due to her alleged dangerousness.

This measure has now been lifted. By decision of the Regional Court of Steyr as the competent enforcement court, the neighbor was conditionally released from preventive detention last Thursday and is now serving the time-limited sanction imposed on her in regular imprisonment. This was announced by her current lawyer Daniel Strauss to the APA.

New defense lawyer criticizes previous expert

"My client was held in preventive detention for over a year, although she - as a new psychiatric report confirms - does not suffer from any serious and lasting mental disorder. Against this background, the whole case must be seen in a new light, as my client was portrayed as the manipulative driving force," Strauss stated on Tuesday. The case shows "the influence that often inadequate psychiatric expert reports have in Austria." Strauss announced in a conversation with the APA that he would "examine the possibilities of correcting the already final judgment of the Regional Court of Krems."

The originally appointed psychiatric expert had certified both the boy's mother and the neighbor with accountability, but also with serious and lasting mental disorders, and provided the basis for the placement of the two women in preventive detention according to § 21 of the Criminal Code with a dangerousness prognosis. He attested the neighbor "great inner abysses" and "lack of empathy" and considered a therapy accompanying imprisonment necessary, as otherwise, after her release, there would be a foreseeable risk of committing criminal acts with serious consequences again.

New expert found "no significant disorder or illness"

The renowned psychiatric expert Adelheid Kastner could not agree with this in an expertise presented on April 30, 2025. She concluded that "no significant disorder or illness from a psychiatric perspective" could be determined in the neighbor. It was "not to be assumed that there is even a simple, let alone high probability of analogous behavior." "The grounds for placement in a forensic-therapeutic center according to § 21 of the Criminal Code are (no longer) present. Overall, a psychotherapeutic treatment focusing on the noticeable increased anxiety and dependency is certainly recommended," Kastner stated.

The mother of the boy, who was legally convicted of attempted murder, abuse of a minor, and deprivation of liberty, remains in preventive detention for the time being. In contrast, the neighbor involved in the crime, who was convicted of incitement to continued violence, was conditionally released from preventive detention by the enforcement court with a probation period of ten years.

(APA/Red)

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