Zurich High Court deals with case of “tormenting parents”
Published: Thursday, Apr 18th 2024, 04:40
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Today, Thursday, two "tormenting parents" are standing before the Zurich High Court. They are accused of humiliating and beating the man's daughter.
In September 2022, the Zurich District Court sentenced the defendants to five years' imprisonment each for grievous bodily harm. The father, a German, was also to be deported from the country for ten years.
The public prosecutor's office accuses the couple of repeatedly beating the man's daughter from 2011 to 2018. The abuse began when the girl's biological mother moved out of the apartment they shared. The father took sole custody of the daughter and moved in with his new wife and her child from their first marriage as well as a third child they had together.
The girl was of primary school age when she was beaten by her father for the first time. The first slaps in the face were followed by further physical punishments and emotional abuse. One incident was particularly serious, in which a descaling liquid was poured over the girl's head. She suffered chemical burns to her skin.
The parents partially confessed
At the hearing, the two accused denied some of the allegations and relativized the extent of individual incidents. They also claimed that they were overtaxed. The trial at the High Court is likely to be primarily about obtaining lighter sentences.
When opening the verdict, the presiding judge at the district court spoke of a tendency to trivialize, which the parents had shown at the trial. The years of martyrdom that the girl had been forced to endure in her parents' home amounted to grievous bodily harm.
According to the court, the fact that no one had intervened earlier probably also had to do with the fact that the family had changed their place of residence and canton of residence several times. "There is no other explanation as to why a Kesb did not put an end to the goings-on long ago," said the judge at the time.
©Keystone/SDA
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