Too Few Jurors: Trial of Killed 4-Year-Old in Vienna Postponed

On Wednesday, the trial against a woman who had killed her four-year-old son in her apartment in Vienna-Favoriten on November 17, 2024, was supposed to continue at the regional court. However, the hearing had to be postponed to November 4. Only six jurors appeared for the appointment. Eight are needed to determine the question of guilt. A fine of 750 euros was imposed on the lay judges who were absent without excuse.

Too Few Jurors and Lay Judges

Furthermore, the two jurors who did not excuse themselves were threatened with police escort if they fail to appear at the next appointment. Two lay judges had canceled due to illness. The presiding judge had summoned four alternate jurors in addition to the eight main jurors to ensure that there is a sufficient number of jurors present.

Expert Opinion: Mother Was Not Accountable at the Time of the Crime

The main trial, which began in early June, involves a particularly tragic case. A 21-year-old woman had slit her son's throat with a kitchen knife, allegedly acting under the significant influence of a severe and persistent mental disorder. According to an expert opinion obtained during the investigation by psychiatric expert Sigrun Rossmanith, there was a reason for excluding guilt in the woman. In her written report, Rossmanith identified an acute polymorphic psychotic disorder with symptoms of schizophrenia. Consequently, in the expert's view, the mother was not accountable at the time of the crime, providing a reason for excluding guilt.

Consideration of Detention Measures

Therefore, the young woman does not have to answer for murder. The prosecution has applied for the woman's placement in a forensic-therapeutic center in accordance with § 21 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code. On today's trial day, another psychiatric report was supposed to be discussed, which the court deemed necessary due to unresolved questions. The renowned expert Peter Hofmann is to clarify whether a conditional suspension of the requested placement in the so-called detention measures is possible for the woman. Essentially, this would require that she no longer poses a particular danger.

The mentally ill woman is currently housed in a facility specialized in her form of illness, where she is closely monitored. It is ensured there that she continues to take her medication. Since the medication treatment, which she has been undergoing since her arrest, her health condition is said to have significantly improved.

"I have to save my child. I killed my child"

"I was not myself. I was completely out of it," the woman explained to the jury at the start of the trial. She thought she had to "save" her child. She began hallucinating two days before the act and imagined that men she had previously seen at Reumannplatz were going to rape her child. When she heard key noises in the apartment on the night of November 17, she panicked and became frightened and "found a knife" in the kitchen, the young woman said: "Panic made fear, fear made panic. I thought I had to protect my child. I have to save my child. I killed my child."

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.