The 11-year-old Swiss-American boy at the center of an incest controversy involving his younger sister has now been charged with sexual assault, on top of an earlier molestation charge.
The boy returned to court Thursday on a technical trip-up, Reuters says, thanks to a tape recorder malfunctioning. The recorder was used in an Oct. 19 hearing. Everything had to be repeated - and the second charge was levied, outraging the boy's attorney.
"There is no evidence that any of the touching was for sexual gratification, which is an element of both charges," attorney Arnold Wegher argued in court. But the court judge agreed with prosecutors that there was enough to charge the boy with both crimes. He faces arraignment Nov. 8.
The boy's parents have denied the charges and returned to Switzerland when their son was arrested, saying they feared their three other children would be taken away as well. The case has touched off a furor in Switzerland, where authorities say the U.S. legal system has treated the boy disproportionately to the charges. He was handcuffed at his arrest and put in shackles for his first court date.
The judge closed the hearing when it came time to decide where he would be kept until his next court date. Authorities say they have trouble placing him because of media calls to his first residential treatment center and because he's alleged to have admitted starting small fires, Reuters says. He may also have trouble understanding the entire case because he's said to suffer attention deficit disorder and because his native language is German.
The case began when a neighbor saw him with his sister in an incident his parents say amounted to nothing more than him helping her go to the bathroom.
