BGH overturns judgment in case of violence in fitters' apartment
The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has overturned the verdict against a co-defendant in the case of a serious act of violence in a fitters' apartment in Hamburg (Ref.: 5 StR 80/23). The Hamburg Regional Court had sentenced him to ten months' imprisonment for failing to render assistance in August 2022. The public prosecutor's office had appealed. The proceedings must now be retried by a different jury chamber of the regional court, as stated in the ruling of the Federal Court of Justice published on Monday, August 2.
The regional court had sentenced the main perpetrator to seven years and ten months in prison just over a year after the violent excess. The court had found the then 35-year-old guilty of dangerous bodily harm, among other things. Like the victim, the two men came from Poland and worked as construction workers for a demolition company.
The regional court had acquitted the 36-year-old co-defendant of the charge of aiding and abetting and granted him an excusable state of emergency. Namely, the fear of also being abused by the other defendant. According to the ruling of the BGH, however, the excusable state of emergency was wrongly granted.
The regional court should have dealt with the question of whether the defendant had considered other means to avert the danger posed to him by the younger perpetrator. In the opinion of the BHG Senate, the Regional Court should have considered whether the defendant had considered asking the two roommates present in the kitchen for help or threatening to call the police.
The BGH criticized the Regional Court's judgement, stating that they erred in granting an excusable state of emergency to the co-defendant. The Federal Court of Justice now requires the regional court to reexamine whether the co-defendant could have taken alternative actions to avert the danger.
Source: www.dpa.com
