Father sentenced in Germany for attempted murder for injecting mercury into his daughter's foot

BERLIN (AP) — A court in Germany on Wednesday sentenced a 30-year-old man to 13 years in prison for attempted murder for injecting mercury into his 1-year-old daughter’s foot. The man's girlfriend was sentenced to 12 years in prison for taking part in the crime.

The German news agency dpa reported that the man, from the small town of Springe near the city of Hannover, wanted to take revenge on the child’s mother, who had left him shortly after the girl’s birth.

According to the indictment, the father and his new girlfriend, knew the poison would not lead directly to death and had wanted to inflict particularly severe pain on the toddler.

After the injection, the daughter got a severe infection in her foot and a rash all over her body. The mercury in her body was only found by chance during a third surgery related to the poisoning, dpa reported.

Both the father and his 34-year-old girlfriend, initially denied the charge before a court in Hannover but shortly before the trial ended, the couple admitted they together injected the mercury into the girl’s left foot and right ankle last July, dpa said.

It's unclear where they procured the liquid mercury.

The defendants can appeal the ruling. The names of the defendants and the victim were not released, in line with German privacy policy.