A mother gives birth to a baby and a short time later abandons it alone on a forest path. It barely survives, purely by accident. Was it a cold-blooded act? Or was it pure desperation? A difficult question that the court in Heilbronn now has to answer.
Heilbronn (dpa / lsw) – The fate of an abandoned baby has been stirring up spirits in the Heilbronn district court for weeks, now the trial against the young and confessing mother is to come to an end. On Wednesday (11:00 a.m.) the criminal court wants to pronounce the verdict on the 22-year-old. She had admitted that, out of desperation and helplessness, she had abandoned her newborn, which was only a few hours old, on a path on the outskirts of Schwäbisch Hall. She described the act as a “huge mistake” during the trial. The woman has to answer for attempted manslaughter.
The infant was discovered by a walker on the way in early September 2021 and taken to the hospital. According to her own statement, the mother had given birth to her baby alone at home the same morning and had kept the birth secret. It was only several weeks later that she reported to the police and admitted to the crime.
From the point of view of the public prosecutor’s office, the 22-year-old had “at least reconciled himself to the possibility of his death” when she left the newborn. She is asking for four years and three months in prison. The woman’s defense attorney pleads for a suspended sentence in the case, which “can’t be surpassed in terms of emotionality and suffering for everyone,” as she put it in her plea. Her client will “carry the burden with her forever”. The woman has been in custody since mid-October.
