Facts
On July 1, 1952, the four-year-old Bernard Piquerez in Basel lost his wallet containing one franc while on an errand. His father, Gaston Piquerez, then sent him to bed without lunch as punishment. When the father returned home around 9:45 pm, the boy was on the terrace belonging to the apartment and was watching as the mother was watering the garden. Enraged to see the boy there and possibly still upset over the loss of the wallet, Gaston Piquerez grabbed the boy and gave him strong blows with a coat hanger on his back, buttocks, and thighs. The boy sustained various injuries, as a result of which he was hospitalized from July 2 to July 15, 1952.
On September 23, 1953, the Criminal Court of the Canton of Basel-Stadt found Gaston Piquerez guilty of maltreatment of a child and sentenced him to a conditionally suspended prison sentence of six weeks. However, on the defendant's appeal, the Court of Appeal of the Canton of Basel-Stadt acquitted him on January 8, 1954.
Considerations
The Court of Cassation states that according to Art. 134 para. 1 no. 1 of the Criminal Code, there must be damage or serious endangerment to the child's health or mental development. However, impairment of health is not present in every temporary impairment of well-being, but only in impairments of some significance. The injuries inflicted on the boy, such as swelling, bleeding, and stripes, do not constitute health impairment.
Nor is there…