Parents on Trial in Vienna for Attempted Murder of Baby

Court spokeswoman Christina Salzborn confirmed the trial date to the APA on Friday. The father was charged as the direct perpetrator, the mother as an accomplice.

The Vienna Criminal Police Office began investigating the Syrian couple on December 20, 2024, after their then six-week-old daughter was brought to a hospital in critical condition with severe brain injuries indicative of shaken baby syndrome. The parents were taken into pre-trial detention in mid-January, and their other three children had already been taken from them due to imminent danger. The Vienna Child and Youth Welfare Service (MA 11) took over temporary custody and subsequently arranged crisis foster care for the three toddlers.

Forensic report confirmed shaken baby syndrome

After their arrest, the suspect parents claimed they had nothing to do with the severe head injuries of their youngest child. They stated the girl had fallen over her five-year-old sister and injured her head on the sister's phone. An expert report obtained by the public prosecutor's office refuted this, as a forensic expert was able to confirm the injuries typical of shaken baby syndrome in the child.

The 26-year-old father will have to answer to a jury as the direct perpetrator. According to the indictment, he allegedly attempted to kill his youngest daughter by "shaking her multiple times during at least two attacks at not exactly determinable times in December 2024, causing her to suffer a shaken baby syndrome with acute bleeding between the skull and brain, increased intracranial pressure, retinal hemorrhages, bilateral hygromas (a cystic accumulation of fluids, note), and several bridging vein thromboses, resulting in acute life-threatening conditions." The mother, who is two years younger, is accused of failing to prevent her husband from committing the act, even though she was present during the assaults in their shared apartment. She neither protected the child nor informed "third parties" - doctors or the MA 11.

Girl suffered "irreversible brain damage"

The little girl survived the injuries but suffered "irreversible brain damage," as a specialist assessment of possible long-term effects revealed. The child also has to be fed through a gastric tube.

(APA/Red)

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