It is obviously difficult for the parents to talk about the death of their two-year-old son. It’s been almost two years since the boy suffocated in a Gelsenkirchen mini-daycare center. The trial against the two childminders, who, according to the indictment, are said to have violated their duty of care, began on Friday. However, a series of organizational problems and the holiday plans of an honorary judge broke the process after two hours. The process is scheduled to start all over again in October. For the parents, the grueling appearance in court then begins all over again.
The two 38- and 26-year-old childminders were silent in court about exactly what happened during the lunch break in the mini-daycare center. Prosecutors believe the boy was downstairs in a bunk bed and couldn’t sleep. The two childminders heard his whining through the closed door from outside, but still didn’t look at him. Eventually the boy became quiet. The childminders would have thought he had fallen asleep.
When they checked on the children an hour later, the two-year-old had suffocated. According to the investigation, the boy had pushed up the floor panel of the bed above, which was not firmly anchored, and was then pinched with his head under the eleven-pound panel. How this was possible at all is to be clarified by an expert in the process. The city of Gelsenkirchen has already drawn consequences: the wooden beds, which were also used in another daycare center, were screwed together better after the fatal accident, a spokesman said on request.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the childminders are still responsible for the boy’s death. If they had been more careful, they could have prevented the two-year-old’s death, the prosecutor emphasized in his indictment.
Communication at daycare must have been difficult. That would almost have been fatal to the proceedings at the Gelsenkirchen district court. The two-year-old’s parents only speak Arabic – because the court had not ordered an interpreter, the process was almost over by then. A translator was hurriedly called over. According to her lawyer, one of the childminders speaks German so badly that she needs a Spanish interpreter to make statements. But since the woman didn’t want to say anything anyway, that wasn’t a problem at first.
Communication between parents and childminders was also complicated in the day-care center, as became clear from the testimonies of the parents. Online translators were often used. It remains to be seen whether all the important information – such as the fact that the two-year-old has long since stopped taking a nap – was received correctly.
To this day, the parents do not know exactly how their child died, said their lawyer. They hoped to get clarification from the planned statement by the coroner who had autopsied their boy at the time. But he didn’t come – he told the court that he was now retired and didn’t want to come, the judge reported curtly. His written report must be sufficient and should be read out later.
Then there was a short break. In the one of the two judges said that he was on vacation in May. There were disbelieving looks from the other participants in the process, because the second and last day of the process was planned for the beginning of May. Despite some ideas, there was no solution. The proceedings could not continue without the honorary judge, and an alternative date within the statutory period could not be found.
The trial against the two childminders was then broken off and is scheduled to start again in October. The victim’s parents must then testify again.
