Parents in Rot am See convicted of abusing daughter
The Ellwangen Regional Court convicted a German couple to lengthy prison sentences for sexually abusing their daughter. The father received 11.5 years, the mother 9.5 years imprisonment.
Couple convicted of serious abuse
The Ellwangen Regional Court has convicted a couple from Rot am See of serious sexual abuse and rape of their own daughter. According to sueddeutsche.de, the 45-year-old father received a sentence of eleven years and six months, the 41-year-old mother of nine years and six months. The verdict is not yet final.
According to the prosecution, the parents forced their daughter to have sex repeatedly over the course of more than a year. The abuse began when the girl was eleven years old. The parents allegedly also threatened the child with electric shocks. Later, the couple also made their daughter available to an acquaintance as a sexual object — a 54-year-old Croatian. The man is currently a fugitive and is subject to an international arrest warrant.
According to investigations, the father had substantial debts to the Croatian acquaintance. For this reason he is said to have handed the child over. Much of the proceedings took place in closed court to protect the now 13-year-old girl. The defendants refused to testify in court.
The abuse came to light after the child confided in a teacher. The youth welfare authority then took over the care of the daughter. A video statement by the girl played a central role in the court proceedings — evaluated by an expert psychological assessment which was heard behind closed doors.
The proceedings were overshadowed by a judicial failure. In July, the court had released the defendants without bail because it found no "substantial suspicion of the offence". The Stuttgart Higher Regional Court reinstated the detention only one month later — but too late: the 54-year-old Croatian had already disappeared. Authorities suspect him in Eastern Europe. His dual passport (German-Bosnian) could make extradition difficult.
The father had already served time for attempted fraud in North Rhine-Westphalia and has a prior conviction for distributing pornographic material. The mother was arrested in the courtroom. A separate proceeding is pending against her for donation fraud: she allegedly collected donations through the GoFundMe platform under false pretences. Authorities are also investigating suspicious transfers to the couple's accounts — banks had reported suspicions of money laundering.
Source: Die Zeit Kriminalität