Marianne Bordt: Grandmother who ‘drowned five-year-old grandson in bathtub was mentally ill

  • She allegedly killed the boy during holiday in Florida
  • The 72-year-old German was said to have been distraught over the boy’s parents’ divorce
  • She was hurt in Russian raid on her hometown of Breslau in 1944

By
Emma Reynolds

07:06 EST, 31 July 2012

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11:07 EST, 31 July 2012

A grandmother accused of drowning her five-year-old grandson in a bathtub claims she was suffering from mental health problems dating from World War II.

German Marianne Bordt, 72, is said to have killed Camden Hiers by holding him under the water while he was holidaying with her in Florida.

She then allegedly tried to commit suicide, but failed and was found by her husband.

‘Violence’: Marianne Bordt, 72, is said to have killed Camden Hiers by holding him under the water while she was visiting the US

Bordt, from a village near Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, was said to have been distraught at the fact that her daughter and the boy’s father had divorced.

She had travelled with her husband to Roswell, Georgia, to spend the 2009-10 New Year with their daughter and grandson, before taking him for a holiday to St George Island in Florida.

It is alleged she drowned the five-year-old while her husband was out shopping on January 5, before trying to kill herself.

Her defence is now planning to argue that she has mental problems which date back to an injury she suffered during World War II, according to a report in The Local, based on articles from Florida paper the Apalach Times.

The start of her trial was reportedly delayed last week when
the prosecution asked for more time to prepare a rebuttal against the
last-minute defence witness – a German-born psychoneurologist.

‘Confused’: The German grandmother is being held at the Florida State Hospital as she awaits trial

Manfred Grieffenstein had carried out tests on Bordt and is to argue that a head injury she suffered in a bombing raid – as well as depression and paranoia – contributed to the crime.

The raid was carried out by Russian
forces on her hometown of Breslau on October 7, 1944.

The prosecution say they need time to find an expert in dementia and memory loss who can contradict Grieffenstein’s argument, so the judge has postponed the trial until both parties were ready.

Prosecutors have called for the death penalty, while the defence are pleading insanity and think she should be detained in a Florida mental hospital for the rest of her life.

Judge Angela Dempsey has reportedly encouraged the two sides to sit down and reach a deal outside of court, because continuing the trial would mean flying in German-speaking witnesses and end up very expensive.

Beauty spot: Marianne Bordt, 72, is said to have killed Camden Hiers by holding him under the water while holidaying with the boy and her husband in St George Island, Florida

‘Mental illness’: Bordt suffered a head injury during bombing in Breslau, Germany, now the Polish city of Wroclaw, pictured

Bordt, from village of Nufringen, near Stuttgart, is being held at the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee.

She speaks no English, and has had extensive counselling to help her cope with the stress of the trial. 

Bordt travelled with her husband to Roswell, Georgia, to spend the 2009-10 New Year with their daughter and five-year-old grandson.

The grandparents then took him for a holiday to St George Island in Florida. It is alleged she drowned him in a bathtub of the holiday home while her husband was out shopping on January 5, before trying to kill herself.

She had said she could not bear that fact that her grandson was growing up in a broken family – his mother and American father were divorced.

Footage of Bordt crying and looking confused during pre-trial hearings has been posted on the websites of local newspapers.

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

There is an excuse for everyone and everything.

If she is found not guilty for insanity,,send her home. Floridians should not have to pay for her incarceration!

So you are saying if somebody is genuinely mentally ill, with no choice and through no fault of their own, they should be physically and mentally abused by the state? Have you considered counselling or perhaps simply going back to school to learn logical thought processes?

Oh please. I am sick and tired of people killing children.

My maths have always been bad but surely it doesn’t add up? She would have been minus 2 years in 1944?

oh yeah the mental problem excuse again…… i will NEVER NEVER accept mental illness as a pathetic excuse for a child murder- NEVER
vote for me to be judge and I will do some serious cleaning up when it comes to child murders- NOBODY should be able to get away with it.
and IF they are mentally ill they need to be put in a straight jacket, in a locked padded room with the only option to lick the walls.

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