Claims of innocence are of no use: a 24-year-old woman from Leipzig is to be jailed following the violent death of her baby

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She maintained her innocence, but the court did not believe her: on Wednesday, the Regional Court sentenced a young woman from Leipzig to six years’ imprisonment for manslaughter. The mother of three is alleged to have shaken her seven-month-old son so violently at the end of April 2024 that the ‘premature baby’ died a day later as a result of irreversible brain damage.

She accepted her sentence without showing any outward emotion: Linda W.* is to serve six years in prison for manslaughter. The First Criminal Division of the Leipzig Regional Court found it proven that the 24-year-old had shaken her seven-month-old son Mika* on 29 April 2024 in her flat in Grünau so violently that, despite successful resuscitation, he closed his eyes for the last time the following day at the children’s hospital. According to the court, the boy suffered irreversible damage to the brainstem, which led to his death.

The child’s father is now considered missing

What had happened in the flat on that fateful Monday morning formed the crux of this particularly tragic trial at the Regional Court. In the prosecution’s view, Linda W. knew that shaking an infant could have fatal consequences and willingly accepted this risk.

The criminal division did not accept the account given by the unemployed woman, in which she claimed she had never shaken her son and could not explain the nature of his injuries. Both medical reports and chat messages made it possible to reconstruct the events quite accurately, said presiding judge Johann Jagenlauf. According to this account, Linda W. had first taken her young daughter from a previous relationship to the nursery that morning, carrying Mika in a baby carrier. Later, she was proven to have fed the boy at home.

His father was also living in the household at the time. The 25-year-old is now considered missing and, as far as is known, is the subject of a missing persons enquiry. However, investigators ruled him out as a suspect, as he had already left for work early that morning.

The motives for the offence remained unclear to the court

According to the court, Linda W. is alleged to have shaken little Mika in the flat at around 11.30 am – it was established that the boy must have been thrown back and forth at least 15 times within a matter of seconds. At 11.37 am, the first emergency calls from the defendant were recorded; she was initially put on hold and, in a panic, sought help from a neighbour. Mika, who as a premature baby had a developmental delay of three to four months, paid with his life for the “extremely dangerous use of force” noted by the court.

According to the court, no motive for the offence could be established. In favour of Linda W., who had a minor previous conviction, it was at least accepted that she acted spontaneously and had immediately attempted to resuscitate him. Although the forensic expert had attested that the 24-year-old had problems, her criminal responsibility had not been impaired.

Defence announces appeal

The sentence of six years’ imprisonment for manslaughter, to which a further week is added due to an outstanding penalty order, was in line with the request made by Public Prosecutor Torsten Naumann. In his closing speech, the prosecutor ruled out alternative explanations, such as an accident. Defence lawyer Henrike Wittner had pleaded for an acquittal. In her view, there were ambiguities in the medical reports, and her client’s account was plausible.

In particular, the lawyer highlighted Linda W.’s difficult background: “She comes from an unstable and ambivalent upbringing. She lacked a stable social support network of family and friends.” The relationship with the child’s father, who is missing, was complicated and marked by arguments; the lawyer described her client as often feeling overwhelmed, yet according to witnesses she had been a “caring mother within the limits of her abilities”. The defence announced that it would appeal against the verdict.

Linda W., who gave birth to another child in early 2026, is aware of her responsibility for killing her baby, despite denying the offence, the presiding judge concluded: “You will have to live with this guilt.” Mika would now, in September 2026, be three years old.

* Names have been changed.