The Zurich courts had to decide on a serious case: two women had to answer for false imprisonment, kidnapping and negligent bodily harm before the district court of Horgen (ZH). They were accused of having locked a resident in a home. Resident who then jumped out of the window, the “Tages-Anzeiger” reported on Tuesday.
The case dates back to March 2022. The two employees of the home, a 56-year-old specialized educator and a 31-year-old social educator, locked up the 46-year-old resident one morning, suffering from cognitive disorders and who wanted to leave. without reason. The youngest then locked him in his room for 30 minutes. But the patient opened the window, climbed over the fall protection and fell 6.8 meters onto the lawn. He suffered head trauma and multiple fractures.
According to the indictment, the oldest educator had already locked the resident several times before for half an hour, despite the injunctions of the mother who had only authorized the confinement for 10 minutes in the evening. In addition, it had not secured the windows or trained staff accordingly. His colleague allegedly neglected to administer an emergency sedative to the patient before locking him up.
In court, the defendants’ lawyers requested acquittal, arguing that they had acted conscientiously, with the confinement of the patient being part of the emergency plan. Additionally, the two women could not have expected the resident to climb out of the window because he was suffering from dizziness.
But the court found them guilty. He sentenced them to a 50 day fine of 100 francs suspended for the youngest and a 70 day fine of 100 francs for the oldest. The judge noted that they had not followed the mother’s injunctions and that the monitoring procedures were not clear.
The judgment is not final and can be contested by the two educators, one of whom still works at the home.
