Brno - At a closed door session judge Zdenka Mádrová was deciding Wednesday who will be awarded custody of Jakub and Ondřej Mauers in what is believed to be the largest child abuse case in the country.
Jakub and Ondřej were maltreated by their mother Klára Mauerová, her sister Kateřina Mauerová and four more persons. Both women were sentenced to nine and ten years respectively.
The boys have been living in children's home Klokánek in Brno for the past six months. Their father Radek Coufal and their grandparents Eliška and Ladislav Mauers have shown interest in raising the kids. However, there is always an option of keeping the kids in the children's home.
The father and both grandparents were present at Wednesday's hearing. The mother of the boys, now in jail, asked the judge to hold the session in her absence.
The verdict has been adjourned and is expected to be given by the end of the year.
Experts to decide
Unlike the previous hearings, this one was not public. "The presence of the public poses a threat to the underage children's development," judge Mádrová said at the beginning of the session. Soon after everybody present was made leave the room.
The session was attended by a psychologist, a child psychologist and a child psychiatrist.
State prosecutor Vladimír Kutnohorský says that a family is always prioritized to a social care home. "But this time it will be mainly the experts deciding about the boys' future, taking into account their past and what they went through," Kutnohorský added.
The boys are said to be content in Klokánek and the court will certainly consider their feelings and points-of view, too.
While the grandparents have not seen the boys for a year and half, their father gets to see them once in three weeks. Radek Coufal said for Aktuálně.cz that being granted the custody of his sons would be the best Christmas present for him.
Unclear motive
The case has received much publicity in the media ever since police stormed the family's house in the spring 2007, acting on a tip from a neighbour, and found a naked boy tied-up in a closet.
The investigators later found out that the abuse had lasted for one year and had taken place in different parts of the Brno area.
After the October's verdict, the judge said that the court had not been able not able to establish the motive for the convicts' actions. "Nevertheless, it is unquestionable that there was an ideological basis," he added.
Some media and experts have suggested that the convicts were brainwashed by a sect, but the authorities have not been able to prove this.
