Mother's Day forgotten

Daughter beaten up: “She’s my best friend”

The 55-year-old has been in custody since the attack on her daughter.

(Bild: Pratschner Sophie, Krone KREATIV)

Because a 20-year-old had forgotten Mother's Day, her mother attacked the sleeping girl and threatened to kill her. In court in Vienna, the young woman nevertheless said: "She's my best friend." This was not the first argument in the family ...

The audio recording that is played in the Vienna Regional Court lasts just under a minute. In which a mother threatens her 20-year-old daughter: "Yes, you will die. Because I'm going to smash your skull." The young woman's screams in the background. The 55-year-old had previously started beating her daughter with her fists while she was half asleep. 

Daughter forgot Mother's Day
The trigger: the 20-year-old had forgotten Mother's Day on May 12, and when they wanted to celebrate and talk two days later, she didn't show up either. "It's a feeling of disappointment," explains the accused mother. She had also drunk twelve beers that day and could hardly remember the crime.

She is my sweetheart.

20-Jährige über ihre Mutter, die gewalttätig wurde.

"When she drinks that much, the problem is that she becomes aggressive. But I've never seen her like this before. I didn't even recognize her anymore," says the 20-year-old in tears on the witness stand. And even before May 14, the day of the crime, the family environment was probably problematic. The divorce from her father, a doctor, dragged on for a long time. There had been allegations of violence and abuse. "Of course, the children also suffered greatly as a result," said the 55-year-old Viennese woman's defense lawyer.

The 55-year-old with the police

(Bild: Pratschner Sophie, Krone KREATIV)

Police orders also issued against the two children
The daughter was also heavily intoxicated during the attack. Just like the mother and the three-year-old son, she drank too much. The children have already been sent away by the police four times for aggressive behavior.

There is unlikely to be any lasting bad blood between the accused and the 20-year-old, who has bruises on her face. "She's my sweetheart", says the daughter in court. The mother: "She's my best friend." To whom she can return home after the trial. The Viennese woman is sentenced to 20 months conditional imprisonment, which is not legally binding, and is released from custody after the trial. However, she must undergo outpatient alcohol therapy.