Baby Killed After Birth in Vienna Hotel: 16 Months Probation for Mother

She gave birth to the boy on December 9, 2024, without knowing she was pregnant until then, as she assured a jury. She was sentenced to 16 months of suspended imprisonment for killing a child at birth. The verdict is not final.

The 21-year-old was acquitted of the charge of disturbing the peace of the dead. The imposed sentence was entirely suspended. The accused had been in pre-trial detention for six weeks after the act. The court ordered probation assistance for the young woman during the three-year probation period. The jury refrained from ordering psychotherapy, as the legislator does not cover the costs, and the accused could not afford the therapy at that time.

The conviction on the core charge was due to the accused's confession, the expert findings, and the burden of proof, as stated in the judgment's reasoning. Mitigating circumstances included the previously impeccable lifestyle of the 21-year-old, the fact that she had an education and a job, and that she took responsibility.

The retail saleswoman was granted by the prosecution, based on a psychiatric report obtained in advance, that she was in a psychological and physical exceptional state due to the birth process. Expert Sigrun Rossmanith found the 21-year-old to be immature, childlike, and naive, as noted in her expertise. The young woman was in a "state of shock" during and after childbirth and was "significantly impaired" and in a "restricted state," Rossmanith stated.

The young woman was in a "state of shock" during and after childbirth and was "significantly impaired" and in a "restricted state," Rossmanith stated. She only thought, "how to get rid of it," the expert explained. From a psychiatric perspective, it is otherwise inexplicable why she committed this act in a publicly accessible restroom of a hotel lobby. There is no danger that she could harm others or future children.

The accused had repressed the pregnancy and thus corresponds to one of two types of women who kill under the impression of the birth process. Cases like this exist worldwide and in all social classes, the expert emphasized.

Prosecution did not charge murder based on psychiatric report

Due to the psychological exceptional state, the prosecution charged the previously unblemished woman with killing a child at birth (§ 79 StGB) and disturbing the peace of the dead (§190 StGB) and not with murder. Penalty threat: six months to five years imprisonment. The father of the child, whom the accused met in December 2023 and moved in with the following August, according to the indictment, was unaware of the pregnancy. The investigation against the 25-year-old was dropped after he, like his partner, was initially suspected of murder and arrested.

She never thought of being an expectant mother until the birth, the accused emphasized in her interrogation. She never took a pregnancy test. She had her period until the end and was taking the pill. When confronted with the fact that she had googled the reliability of pregnancy tests with her phone, which was secured and evaluated during the investigation, she replied: "I google everything that interests me, even if it's nonsense."

Accused in Vienna claimed to be "just a little chubby"

"In the last few months, it seemed strange to me because I gained weight," the accused admitted. However, she was "just a little chubby" and did not have "a pregnancy belly."

The accused answered most of the chairwoman's questions briefly and monosyllabically. She had "heard of" the baby hatch "once before," but did not think of it at the moment. Calling for rescue also did not occur to her at the time of the crime, as she was "completely overwhelmed."

The young woman became emotional when her defense attorney asked her about her life after the incident: "I can't live in my old place anymore, I'm completely disgraced there and have no future," she said and began to sob. She maintained good contact with her boyfriend, parents, and in-laws, but not with the rest of her family. She also said she was no longer allowed to see her nieces and nephews, and began to cry.

The young woman from Burgenland had come to Vienna with her partner on December 8, 2024, where they wanted to spend a long weekend over the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. After checking into a hotel in Simmering and visiting the Christmas market at Rathausplatz, she complained of severe abdominal pain. The 21-year-old also vomited twice. The following day, she felt nauseous again after breakfast and vomited several times. She then consulted her family doctor, who advised her to get ibuprofen from a pharmacy.

The woman's condition did not improve significantly, so she stayed at the hotel in the afternoon and sent her boyfriend to the pharmacy. While sitting in the hotel lobby, labor pains began. The 21-year-old managed to get to the toilet in the lobby, where a so-called precipitous birth occurred. In this process, the child suddenly emerges from the birth canal and falls to the floor or into the toilet.

Prosecutor Described "Chokehold"

The latter happened in the stall where the woman from Burgenland had retreated. The newborn fell into the toilet bowl, the accused tore the umbilical cord, retrieved the child, and "held it tightly and for a long time" with her hands, the prosecutor described: "She was overwhelmed by the situation." The boy - according to the autopsy report, the child was viable and died as a result of compression of the soft tissues of the neck - did not survive the "chokehold," as the prosecutor put it.

Afterward, the 21-year-old wiped up the blood, put the dead baby in a garbage bag, and was surprised by the cleaning staff while kneeling on the floor in the restroom. She pretended to have had her period, whereupon the staff handed her another garbage bag. In the end, "the body was disposed of in a residual waste container," said the prosecutor.

"Thought I Was Getting My Period"

"I thought I was getting my period," the accused recalled her thoughts before the sudden birth. In the toilet, everything was suddenly "bloody, full of blood": "Now I think I could have behaved differently." The child would have "only consequences for work," but no impact on her partnership and family ties, she admitted.

After disposing of the dead baby, the accused returned to her hotel room. Because she was not feeling well there, her boyfriend sought help at the reception. Eventually, due to heavy bleeding, the Vienna professional rescue service was called. The 21-year-old initially refused help. However, she was taken to a hospital, where doctors realized that the woman had apparently recently given birth. During a follow-up check at the hotel, the body was subsequently found.

(APA/Red)

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