Austrian remanded for allegedly locking son in dog crate

VIENNA: An Austrian woman is being investigated for attempted murder and torture of her 12-year-old son after locking him in a small dog cage and exposing him to sub-zero temperatures, authorities said on Tuesday.

The case caused a public outcry in Austria when it was made public earlier this week following a decision by the Supreme Court of Justice in late May to reject the woman´s complaint against being held in custody for several months.

The 32-year-old woman is “still remanded in custody and the investigation is expected to wrap up by late summer, with a possible indictment,” Johann Baumschlager, police spokesman of Lower Austria province told AFP on Tuesday.

The woman has been in pre-trial detention in Krems, west of Vienna, since November last year, after a social worker had called an ambulance to the house on 22 November to have the comatose and hypothermic boy she found there taken to hospital.

Austrian authorities, which sent the social worker to the house, had reportedly been tipped off by the boy´s father, who lives separately. The hospital filed a criminal complaint, triggering the woman´s arrest on the following day.