Parents ‘tortured and locked 3-year-old son in drawer’ | World | News
(Stock image) The case has shocked Austria (Image: Getty )
A toddler who was “completely dehumanised, humiliated and frightened” died weighing less than half what a child of his age should as his parents go on trial for his torture and murder. Little Elias, aged three, died in May 2024 from dehydration and malnutrition, with a post-mortem revealing he weighed less than 7kg (one stone).
His parents, named only as Kevin and Nathalie M by authorities, have now gone on trial in Innsbruck, Austria, today (Monday) on charges of cruelty, unlawful imprisonment, and murder. The pair are accused of deliberately torturing their son over a period of five months after believing he was possessed by a demon.
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(Stock image) An autopsy found Elias weighed half what a child of his age should have (Image: Getty )
According to investigators, Elias was beaten with a wooden spoon, locked in a drawer for 22 hours a day and starved and dehydrated. Blinded and in total darkness, the youngster is alleged to have endured a nightmare ordeal being tied to a bathroom basin, showered with boiling or freezing water and forced to sleep on a slatted bed frame without a mattress.
The Mail Online reports Austrian prosecutors believe Elias’s parents wanted to kill him in the most agonising way possible.
As previously reported by the paper, Hansjörg Mayr, spokesperson for the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office, said: “According to the shocking results of the investigation, the parents abused the child mentally and physically in the most horrific way.
Mr Mayr added: “They isolated the boy from the rest of family life and locked him away, completely dehumanised, humiliated and frightened him. They beat him with a wooden spoon, tied his hands and feet with cable ties and sometimes blindfolded him.”
Elias had three sisters ,including a twin, but it’s alleged his parents kept him isolated from the rest of the family. The investigation found his sisters, who have now been sent to foster homes, were all well cared for and fed.
Mr Mayr said Elias’s parents lived in a “mystical fantasy” and believed a “demon” was inside his body and was responsible for their financial problems.
Sickeningly, the parents are said to have discussed and encouraged abuse on WhatsApp chats and emails. Investigators also found videos and pictures documenting Elias’s torment.
(Stock image) The family lived in Ebbs (pictured), Austria (Image: Getty )
In a horrific piece of evidence, the prosecution said the boy’s torment was watched live on a “surveillance camera” by his own mother and father.
Both parents confessed tothe police, with the mother citing the reason as a demon, and the father saying he regretted his actions.
The parents have been remanded in custody over “strong suspicion of murder by torture and omission”, the Innsbruck Regional Court said.
If convicted, the parents, from Ebbs, in Austria, face a life sentence.
Speaking to the German newspaper Bild, Elias’s grandmother defended her son and daughter-in-law, claiming they were “not murderers”, she added: “We didn’t see this coming. Elias was often with me; he was sickly. But what could I do? His parents are adults.”
