Parents Wrongly Imprisoned for 599 Days After Daughter's False Claims of Abuse Now Facing Legal Battle

FOR years a mother and her partner were wrongfully imprisoned after her teenage daughter lied about sexual abuse.

The wild miscarriage of justice was uncovered when the now 19-year-old woman fessed up to the fabrication after the pair spent 599 in custody and were sentenced to several years in prison.

In a new bombshell revelation, the young girl contacted the High Court and asked to speak with Christian Prinz, a senior judge.

When she was told he was unavailable, she left a simple message – she has something to tell him that she can’t tell anyone else.

When he returned the call, she revealed the accusations she made five years ago of sexual abuse and beatings against her stepfather and mother were false.

She confessed to Prinz that, as a 14-year-old, she initially “only wanted her freedom” and therefore lied.

The girl said never intended to file a report but her biological father contacted the authorities and it snowballed from there.

The Zurich District Court sentenced the stepfather to 36 months in and the mother to 22 months in July 2021.

But, following appeals by the public prosecutor their sentences were drastically increased at the end of 2023.

As a result the authorities placed not only the then 14-year-old but also the mother’s other children in foster care.

Two days after her recent phone call confession, Prinz filed a criminal complaint against the young woman.

The Zurich City Youth Prosecutor’s Office subsequently opened criminal proceedings for false accusation, obstruction of justice, and unlawful deprivation of liberty.

The revelation has understandably sparked questions as to how a 14-year-old girl was able to dupe enforcement and several experts to such an extent.

According to the the teen was reportedly known for lying at her school and spoke of hearing voices in her head was disregarded.

Several teachers testified that the 14-year-old had repeatedly lied in everyday school life.

Her apparent lying was evidenced in court by a WhatApp conversation from 2018 – a year before the arrest – when the then 13-year-old had been placed in a girls’ home after telling her friends about her abusive parents.

She later wrote to her mother and said: “Mommy after the holidays I have a meeting with the KESB (child protection services).

“I’m going to say I lied, that you didn’t hit me, that I was angry with you and had to lie.”

Experts also ignored the young girl’s mental health warning signs after she reported hearing voices and seeing threatening figures.

Despite this, her accounts of abuse did included seem genuine and included specific details – such as a white candle on the stove extension in the garden shed, which her stepfather had allegedly used during the assaults.

The girl also explained how she would protect herself from the alleged abuse by wearing several layers of clothing.

With these seemingly specific details four experts supported the fabricated abuse.

Their expert report was based on a review of three video interviews conducted by the Zurich city police and a single personal examination of the girl by the senior lecturer in psychiatry.

The specialists attested to the accounts having a “high probability of credibility but in doing so, overlooked serious warning signs.

The mother and step-fathers convictions have now been overturned by the High Court.