A woman who sold her son to paedophiles on the dark net has been jailed for 12 years and six months by a court in southern Germany.<\/p>\n
The Freiburg court also jailed her partner, the boy’s stepfather, for 12 years. The boy was nine when the trial began in June.<\/p>\n
The German nationals, 48 and 39 years old, had sexually abused the boy themselves for at least two years.<\/p>\n
The dark net is an internet area beyond the reach of mainstream search engines.<\/p>\n
On Monday the court jailed a Spanish man for 10 years for sexually abusing the boy repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Five other men have also been prosecuted in connection with the abuse.<\/p>\n
The couple were found guilty of rape, aggravated sexual assault of children, forced prostitution and distribution of child pornography.<\/p>\n
The boy is now living with foster parents.<\/p>\n
The couple must now pay \u20ac42,500 (\u00a338,000; $49,200) in damages to the boy and to a three-year-old girl, who was also abused by them.<\/p>\n
German media report that child welfare authorities in Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg state have been heavily criticised for failing to stop the couple’s abuse.<\/p>\n
The boy had been removed from the couple temporarily by social workers, but was then handed back to them.<\/p>\n
Spiegel news website reports that welfare officers had not exchanged information about the case that could have led them to the couple’s crimes.<\/p>\n
According to case psychiatrist Hartmut Pleines, quoted by Spiegel, the mother’s claim that she was in thrall to her partner when she committed the abuse, was false.<\/p>\n
She did not explain her actions, but her partner did speak a lot in court during the two-month trial, Spiegel reported.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"