A German appeals court on Thursday ordered a new sentencing hearing for a German woman who was convicted of allowing a 5-year-old Yazidi girl she and her husband kept as a slave to die of thirst in the sun. The woman, identified only as Jennifer W., was given a 10-year sentence in October 2021 on charges of crimes against humanity, enslavement, being an accessory to attempted murder, and membership in a terrorist organization abroad.
The Federal Court of Justice in Germany rejected Jennifer W.’s appeal, but partially approved the prosecutor’s appeal. The court threw out her sentence and sent the case back to the Munich state court for a new decision. The 31-year-old defendant faces a higher sentence as a result of the overturned verdict.
Prosecutors argued that Jennifer W. stood by as her husband chained the young Yazidi girl in a courtyard and left her to die of thirst. The Munich state court found that Jennifer W. did nothing to help the girl, despite the possibility and reasonability of doing so.
The federal court found that the Munich court erred in sentencing Jennifer W. for a “less severe case” of crimes against humanity and overlooked aggravating circumstances. German law allows for a life sentence in cases where a defendant’s actions result in a person’s death.
The Yazidi girl’s mother, who survived captivity, testified at both Jennifer W.’s trial and her husband’s trial. The husband, an Iraqi citizen, was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and bodily harm resulting in death, and sentenced to life imprisonment.