The defendant did not allow himself to be presented in court (archive photo) Photo: Olaf Wagner
By Anne Losensky
The mother shook the baby violently, the head hit something and the skull cracked. The punishment: eight years in prison!
THE MOTHER. Favor B. (26). Born in Nigeria. Came to Germany in 2014. Asylum application rejected in 2016. First child 2017. Second child 2018. Third child 2023: Purity. The mother lived with her three children in a women’s dormitory. On April 12, 2022, the ten-week-old girl lay unconscious in bed and died on the same day. Autopsy, only then is it clear: This was not sudden infant death (as suspected), but a crime! Arrest warrant. The mother leaves the other children (3, 4) to fend for themselves and runs off to Nigeria. Comes back to Germany in March 2023 – and immediately behind bars.
THE EXCUSE. Trial since September 21st. “I only shook the baby once, but didn’t hit him on anything,” she claimed. “I loved the child!”
THE PUNISHMENT. Penalties are rarely higher than those requested by prosecutors. This time already. Judge Matthias Schertz: “The child was then severely abused over a long period of time in order to get rid of him.” And: “This was no less serious case of manslaughter.”
Six years were requested, but the mother was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The judge: “The child’s head was hit against a hard object, you can hear it when the skull cracks. She doesn’t go to the doctor, lets the child wither away for weeks and watches. The child is further abused, including burning his toe. This is not a momentary failure, she allowed her child to languish painfully until the final act when she shook the child again.”
The mother shows no emotion in the verdict. Her other children live in the home.