Another case of violence between children? A ten-year-old girl was found dead in a child welfare facility in Wunsiedel. Investigators are assuming a homicide and the involvement of an eleven-year-old boy.
After a ten-year-old girl was found dead at a child and youth welfare institution in Wunsiedel, Upper Franconia, on Tuesday (April 4), police now suspect that an eleven-year-old child is involved in the crime. He lived in the same orphanage as the dead woman. “Since the boy is not of legal age, he has been housed in a secure facility as a preventive measure,” police and prosecutors said on Friday (April 7).
A hearing for the 11-year-old boy was still pending according to police on Friday. Further measures would be taken in close coordination with the youth authorities. It is currently unclear whether the boy has been questioned and whether he says or has said anything about the crime.
Interior Minister Herrmann thanks special commission
“Soko Park and the Bavarian State Criminal Police did an excellent job assessing the remains,” praised Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann. “Thanks to meticulous and highly committed investigations, a person involved in the crime can be identified in a comparatively short time.”
In this case, the Minister of the Interior spoke of very difficult and complex investigations, not least because a large number of children and young people have to be interrogated. “It takes a lot of tact.” According to Herrmann, the investigators’ work is far from over. “It is now time to clarify the exact background to this horrific act.”
Homicide, but not a sex crime
The investigators assume a homicide, as confirmed by the public prosecutor Hof, but not a sexual crime.
Early forensic examinations indicated that an outside influence may have been the cause of the girl’s death. An accident was also the initial cause of death.
Facility workers discovered the infant on Tuesday (April 4) unresponsive in a room at the St. Josef, police headquarters in Upper Franconia and the public prosecutor’s office in Hof said on Wednesday (April 5). An emergency medical team was only able to determine the girl’s death, he said. An autopsy was ordered to determine the exact cause of death, police said. The first signs of negligence by third parties in the child’s death would have appeared.
Officials are focusing their investigations on the child and youth welfare center. Image rights: dpa
Investigations focus on facilities
Experts ensured extensive traces in the facility. The criminal police also formed a special commission.
Authorities are focusing their investigations exclusively on the facility, said a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Hof. This means about the employees and the children and young people housed there.
It is unclear whether or not there could be other people involved in the crime. A day after the girl was found, security circles said two 11-year-olds and a 16-year-old were the focus of the investigation. As per the current state, the police did not disclose how many people were involved in the crime.
Authorities only announced the case on Wednesday so they could obtain extensive evidence and interview witnesses on Tuesday.
Normally around 90 children, teenagers and young people from all over Germany are cared for in the Catholic home in Wunsiedel. Image rights: dpa
After suspected homicide: children and young people are treated by professionals
The spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Hof could not say how many children and young people are currently housed at the St. Josef in Wunsiedel. Due to the holiday season – currently the Bavarian Easter holidays – the premises are not fully occupied.
Typically, around 90 children, teenagers and young people from all over Germany are cared for at the Catholic home on a full-time and part-time basis. Most of them come from difficult family backgrounds. Your living quarters are spread over a spacious area.
Children and young people are now cared for by trained staff.
For me, there is now no doubt that children and young people, and especially staff at St. Josef in Wunsiedel are cared for, accompanied and supported in the best possible way.
Ulrike Scharf | Minister for Family and Social Affairs, Bavaria
This article was first published on April 6, 2023.
BRISANT/dpa/AFP/spiegel.de/bayern.de
About the subject
This topic in the program:The First | BRISANT | April 07, 2023 | 5:15 pm