Photo: Zwickau Police
In another chapter of the never-ending saga of parenting challenges, one family from Hohenstein-Ernstthal, in the Zwickau rural district, Saxony, Germany, is left with a huge repairs bill after their 7-year-old daughter went all artsy with a rock on people’s cars.
You would think a 7-year-old would know that it’s bad to destroy other people’s property, no matter how said destruction incurs or for what purpose, but this wasn’t the case here. Police in Zwickau say in a press release that, over a one-week period at the end of April, they kept getting complaints that someone was scratching snowflakes on their cars with a sharp object, so a formal investigation went underway.
Cops “heard and interviewed a large number of witnesses, worked out numerous witness statements and carried out extensive forensic examinations and several days of observation in the crime scene area,” the report notes.
At the end of the investigation, they were able to apprehend the vandal: the 7-year-old girl who had casually taken a stone to no less than 37 cars, in what she deemed an attempt to “paint” snowflakes.
While her intention was undoubtedly an innocent one (think along the lines of “a snowflake would totally make this car prettier”), she still caused damages estimated at €30,000, meaning over $34,000 at today’s exchange rate. When speaking to the police, the girl owned up to the snowflakes right away and said that she had no idea that what she was doing would damage the vehicles.
Much like in a similar incident that occurred in China in December 2019, when a 3-year-old took a stone to 10 new Audis at a local dealership, while her parents were talking to a dealer, this is a clear case of “don’t blame the child, blame the parents.” In that instance, the parents tried to get out of a very expensive lawsuit filed by the dealership on the grounds that the child didn’t know better, but a judge wasn’t having it: a kid never knows any better if no one teaches them otherwise.
The same goes for this little artist. Snowflakes may be cute and all, but not on other people’s property – and her parents should have taught her that.
Cops “heard and interviewed a large number of witnesses, worked out numerous witness statements and carried out extensive forensic examinations and several days of observation in the crime scene area,” the report notes.
At the end of the investigation, they were able to apprehend the vandal: the 7-year-old girl who had casually taken a stone to no less than 37 cars, in what she deemed an attempt to “paint” snowflakes.
While her intention was undoubtedly an innocent one (think along the lines of “a snowflake would totally make this car prettier”), she still caused damages estimated at €30,000, meaning over $34,000 at today’s exchange rate. When speaking to the police, the girl owned up to the snowflakes right away and said that she had no idea that what she was doing would damage the vehicles.
Much like in a similar incident that occurred in China in December 2019, when a 3-year-old took a stone to 10 new Audis at a local dealership, while her parents were talking to a dealer, this is a clear case of “don’t blame the child, blame the parents.” In that instance, the parents tried to get out of a very expensive lawsuit filed by the dealership on the grounds that the child didn’t know better, but a judge wasn’t having it: a kid never knows any better if no one teaches them otherwise.
The same goes for this little artist. Snowflakes may be cute and all, but not on other people’s property – and her parents should have taught her that.
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