Second trial in Horgen: Parents accused of years of abuse against their daughter
A parental couple from the Canton of Zurich is once again facing court after allegedly subjecting their daughter to severe physical and psychological abuse over many years.
Retrial against alleged abusive parents in Horgen
The Horgen District Court is once again hearing a case against a 45-year-old father and a 44-year-old mother, who are accused of causing serious bodily injury. According to swissinfo.ch, the two allegedly subjected their now adult daughter to severe physical and psychological abuse over many years. In the first trial, the public prosecutor demanded a four-year prison sentence for each parent.
A first main hearing had already taken place in January 2024, but ended without a verdict. The judges determined that the matter was not yet ready for judgment and ordered a psychiatric assessment. The background was that a medical report from 2022 was insufficient to conclusively assess the extent of psychological harm suffered by the alleged victim. The assessment is intended to clarify whether the psychological damage to the young woman is directly connected to the parents' conduct.
The allegations are serious. According to the files, the abuse began when the girl was five years old and continued beyond her coming of age. According to the indictment, the parents regularly locked the child in her room for up to three days, which she was only allowed to leave for toilet breaks. As a further punishment, she was repeatedly expelled from the house — sometimes in winter without a jacket or shoes — and subsequently sought shelter in the car, garden or basement.
Serious physical assaults are also part of the indictment. In one incident, the father allegedly dragged his daughter to the basement, bound her hands and feet with adhesive tape, sealed her mouth with tape and then struck her in the face with his fist, causing her to lose two milk teeth, and forced her to eat from the floor.
In April 2021, when the daughter was already an adult, a dispute escalated to the point that the father dragged her by the hair whilst she lay on the ground and strangled her until she could not breathe. The young woman suffered black eyes, a bleeding lip and numerous bruises across her entire body. In August 2021, the daughter finally filed a complaint against her parents, whereupon both were taken into pre-trial detention for approximately one month.
Source: Google News CH — Crime (de)