Trial in Tübingen: Mother accused of poisoning premature infant on intensive care unit
A 25-year-old from Reutlingen district is on trial at Tübingen Regional Court. She is accused of secretly administering an overdose of caffeine to her premature-born son.
Defendant denies attempted murder charge against infant
Before Tübingen Regional Court, a 25-year-old mother has rejected charges of attempted murder of her premature-born son. When her defence lawyer asked whether she had attempted to kill her child, the defendant replied, tearfully: "No".
According to Google News DE — Crime (de), the public prosecutor has accused the woman from Reutlingen district of secretly administering an overdose of caffeine to her one-month-old son on an intensive care unit in Tübingen. The infant subsequently remained in a life-threatening condition for several days. When the charges were read out, the prosecutor stated that it was initially unclear whether the boy would survive the overdose.
As a motive, the prosecutor's office assumes that the woman intended to draw more attention to herself through the act. She greatly enjoyed the care of the child on the intensive care unit and had hoped that a deterioration in the boy's condition would direct attention back to mother and child, according to the prosecutor.
A comparable case occurred in Heidelberg in the previous year. There, a 26-year-old mother was sentenced to three years in prison because she repeatedly injected pathogens into her three-year-old daughter through an intravenous access. An expert in that case suspected so-called Munchausen syndrome by proxy — a disorder in which parents deliberately make their children ill in order to be perceived as a devoted caregiver.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)