Overview

• The father and stepmother have been held in pretrial detention for six months on allegations of severe maltreatment, dangerous bodily harm and unlawful deprivation of liberty.
• During proceedings on July 22, the 33-year-old father admitted slapping his son once and expressed regret while the 35-year-old stepmother acknowledged parts of the charges through her lawyer.
• The indictment details that over roughly a year the boy was beaten, bound with cable ties, confined without food or water and forced to sleep on a bare floor.
• The child escaped in January and was found alone on a rural road, after which Jugendamt placed the now six-year-old boy in a residential group home.
• Prosecutors told the court the sustained abuse caused significant developmental regression and warned the boy faces lifelong risks of psychological harm.