The presiding judge found the boy had been “completely destroyed” mentally. (representative)
Vienna, Austria:
An Austrian woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for locking her son in a puppy cage and torturing and starving him.
The woman went on trial on Monday accused of repeatedly beating and starving her son, then 12, between July and November 2022, locking him in a dog crate and subjecting him to freezing temperatures pour cold water on.
On Thursday, a court in Krems, northeastern Austria, found the 33-year-old man guilty of all charges, including attempted murder.
Her 40-year-old friend and accomplice was sentenced to 14 years in prison for encouraging her through chat messages and phone calls.
Thursday’s verdict can be appealed. The court has ordered both women to receive treatment.
A psychiatrist told the court the mother suffered from severe and ongoing mental illness and had developed a “paranoid symbiotic relationship” with her “controlling” friend.
The mother was arrested in late 2022 after a social worker (reportedly the friend who called) found the boy severely malnourished, comatose and suffering from hypothermia.
The woman allegedly opened her apartment window and poured cold water on her son for hours in sub-zero temperatures, causing his body temperature to drop to a life-threatening 26.8 degrees Celsius (80.2 degrees Fahrenheit).
During the trial, the two women blamed each other, with the mother apologizing for her actions and claiming she was just trying to “discipline” her son, Austrian news agency APA reported.
The presiding judge found the boy had been “completely destroyed” mentally.
The mother’s accomplice told the court she was unaware of the scale of the abuse, although their exchanges proved otherwise.
The state government has also set up a committee to investigate whether authorities could have done more to rescue the boy earlier.
The Standard reported that the boy had previously escaped from his mother, but was later brought back to her.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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