Crimes enquêtes et investigations · Engle

Torture / Une mère et son amie condamnées pour actes de torture sur son fils adolescent

·11 min·1 clip

Paula and Rita force Nils into a dog crate, taking selfies as he's imprisoned for hours until his limbs are paralyzed.

The episode opens with Rita receiving a call from her friend Paula about Nils, Paula's son, who appears unresponsive. Rita rushes to their apartment in Wendhofen-Andertaya near Vienna, already suspecting foul play. The story then flashes back to how Paula and Rita met four years ago in a store, bonding over their difficult relationships with men. Paula describes her ex-husband as a monster and projects this hatred onto her son Nils, whom she claims resembles his father. The women's friendship devolves into a shared campaign of abuse against Nils, rationalized as 'education.' Paula begins physically punishing Nils with slaps and hair-pulling, encouraged by Rita. Rita suggests using cold as punishment, leading Paula to lock Nils on the balcony in winter. The abuse escalates when Rita proposes confining Nils in a dog crate; they force him inside, take selfies, and leave him for hours until his limbs are paralyzed from poor circulation. Nils is also starved, becoming emaciated, though a teacher's report to youth protection is thwarted by COVID-19 lockdowns. During the pandemic, Nils is isolated further, and his father's attempts to alert social services fail due to office closures. The abuse peaks on November 21, 2022, when Paula forces Nils into the crate, pours cold water on him, and opens windows in sub-zero temperatures, causing severe hypothermia. Rita receives a photo of Nils unconscious and rushes over, finding him lifeless on the floor with blue lips and cold skin. An emergency social worker discovers Nils covered in bruises and wounds, and he is hospitalized with a body temperature of 26.8°C. Paula is arrested immediately, and Rita is apprehended three months later. Their trial opens on February 26 at the Krems criminal court near Vienna, with the dog crate displayed as evidence. In court, Paula expresses regret but blames Rita, while Rita claims she was unaware of the severity. Investigators recover damaged phones containing texts from Rita urging starvation and humiliation, along with videos of the abuse. After seven hours of deliberation, Paula is convicted of attempted murder, torture, and sequestration, receiving 20 years in prison. Rita is convicted of encouraging continuous violence and gets 14 years. Both must pay Nils 80,000 euros in damages. Nils, now 13, lives with his father and has physically recovered, but psychiatrists warn of lifelong psychological trauma. The episode concludes with a disclaimer about presumption of innocence and modified names.

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