Man jailed over kids’ deaths in bath

The court ruled that the 48-year-old man's negligence caused the death of his 4 and 6-year old children, who were killed by an electric shock as they were taking a bath.

The tragedy happened in November 2013 when the children, who normally lived with their mother in Hamburg, were visiting their father.

He had run them a bath and then left the apartment to go and check train times to Hamburg at the central station.

But he came home 15 minutes later to find his children dead.

His electric razor had fallen into the bath and the circuit breaker had not worked, meaning that a deadly electric current coursed through the water, fatally injuring his children.

The presding judge said that the man should never have left his children alone in the bath.

“You should have known that there was an electric razor plugged in in the bathroom,” he said during his ruling.

The prosecutors, who were representing the children's mother, alleged that the man had not actually left the flat when the accident happened.

This accusation was denied by the defendant.

“I know I made a mistake,” he said.

Pointing to the electrical failure of his razor, he said “the same could have happened to me.”