Boy (3) starves to death: Pre-trial detention requested through parents

This must be done within 48 hours, but should be done on Friday.

The parents are said to have not provided the child with food and liquids for “at least several weeks”. This has been revealed by previous investigations, the prosecution announced.

• The OÖN reported: 3-year-old died of malnutrition in Tyrol, parents arrested

There was also suspicion that the parents, who are being investigated on suspicion of murder, failed to contact a doctor “despite the obvious deterioration of his health and his apparent weight loss”, so that the boy ultimately died.

Father refuses to testify

The father has so far exercised his right not to testify, it was said. The mother, however, stated that the child had been ill in recent weeks and had no appetite. A visit to the doctor was planned soon.

The prosecution also announced that further investigations were being carried out into whether the child’s death could have had “other, medical causes.” However, there have been no indications of this so far.

The boy was found dead in his bed on Monday, whereupon his father called the police. An autopsy ultimately revealed that the three-year-old had starved to death. After the parents had been in hospital due to a mental state of emergency, they were arrested. Three other siblings were placed in the care of the child and youth welfare service. The girls, aged one, three and six, showed no signs of deficiency. The family had also not previously attracted any attention from the authorities.

“It’s part of the survival instinct”

Meanwhile, the director of the Innsbruck children’s clinic, Thomas Müller, spoke in the “Tiroler Tageszeitung”. He said the case was “unusual in our western industrial world. I don’t know of any similar one.” Müller pointed out, among other things, that “a healthy child doesn’t just starve to death. It fights back, demands food, wants its basic needs met. That’s part of the survival instinct.” People dying of malnutrition doesn’t happen overnight: “These are processes that take weeks or even months.” That’s assuming the person affected doesn’t have any previous illnesses. In the latter case, it can happen more quickly, “which can lead to deficiencies.” In addition, the question arises as to when the boy last saw a doctor: “The parent-child pass program provides for regular examinations. There it would have been noticed that the weight is not just stagnating, but is decreasing.”