Psychiatric expert finds Gina H. fully criminally responsible in Fabian murder trial

Expert findings

Peter Keiper, a forensic psychiatrist at Universitätsmedizin Rostock, presented his report on the 32nd hearing day at the Rostock regional court on Thursday. He diagnosed Gina H. with an emotionally unstable personality disorder of the borderline type, with psychopathic traits, and recorded an IQ of 76. He described the disorder as at most moderate in severity and said neither the personality disorder nor the reduced intelligence has the character of an illness. Around the time of the alleged offence on 10 October 2025, Keiper found no restriction of her criminal responsibility, her capacity to understand wrongdoing or her capacity to control her actions.

The possible act is not a symptom of a disorder.

Keiper's report was based on five conversations with Gina H. in the Bützow prison, some with a psychologist he brought in, plus a review of earlier treatment records. He described her as cooperative, friendly and open, and said she rejected the charge throughout. Each conversation began with his question why she was in custody, and she answered that she was supposedly accused of killing someone. Keiper found no signs of psychosis.

Emotions and personality

According to Bild, Gina H. cried twice during the conversations, once about her dead horse Tiffy and once about her biological son. Berliner Zeitung reported that she showed feelings only on the topics of her horses and her son, and stayed emotionally flat and defiantly closed when Fabian came up. Keiper described her as dominant, controlling and manipulative. On a psychopathy checklist she scored 22 of 40 points, below the threshold of 25 that he cited. He stressed that psychopathic traits are not an illness but "criminological characteristics".

Everything revolves around Ms H.'s egocentricity.

Possible motive

Keiper offered the relationship with Fabian's father, Matthias R., as a possible explanation for the alleged act. Gina H. experienced the separation as threatening her existence, and Keiper put forward a hypothesis of punitive retaliation against the father through the instrumentalisation of the child, which he linked to the "Medea phenomenon" from Greek mythology. He summed up the motive as a "conglomerate of egocentricity, jealousy and revenge". The prosecution sees the motive in her relationship with Fabian's father, and she has rejected the accusations several times.

Case background

According to the indictment, on 10 October 2025 Gina H. stabbed Fabian, aged eight, at a pond near Klein Upahl, about 15 kilometres from Güstrow, and then set the body on fire. The trial began on 28 April. Gina H. has told Bild that she suffers from several mental illnesses, and her psychologist diagnosed recurrent depressive disorder and a borderline personality disorder. Bild reported that the defence does not expect the court to find her of limited criminal responsibility or insane.

Next steps

Dpa reports that the evidence taking is expected to conclude after the expert report, with closing arguments from the prosecution and the defence on 29 and 30 October. A verdict could follow on 10 November. The report does not settle guilt, since the defendant denies killing Fabian and the court must decide that after weighing all the evidence.