[Fatal child abuse, bodily injury followed by death or accidental fall?]

Cases in which forensic experts cannot draw their conclusions on the basis of primary findings collected by themselves are not uncommon in medico-legal practice. Often only photographs or statements on the course of events are available to investigate the plausibility of reports on how an accident happened. In cases of child abuse it is often claimed that the injuries occurred due to an accident and explanations are adapted to the diagnostic findings or results of the police investigations. This is demonstrated by the death of a 3-year-and-3-month-old child whose body was never found. According to the father, who had disposed of the body and made false statements as to the whereabouts of the child, the toddler had slipped in the bathtub and hit her head against the fittings and the floor of the tub. Some time later he claimed to have found the child dead in the bedroom. Contrary to his version, the prosecution assumed that the child had been killed intentionally The essential points for checking the plausibility of the father's story are presented. As a result, an accidental fall in the bathtub causing a lethal craniocerebral trauma could be ruled out. Accordingly, the accused was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months' imprisonment for bodily harm followed by death according to Sections 227, 223 StGB (German Criminal Code).