Airport in Hamburg - Former spouse of hijacker: He can occasionally lose control.
In the court case involving the Hamburg airport hostage-taker, his ex-wife described the suspect as hostile and abrasive. Prior to the hostage situation in November of last year, when the 35-year-old Turkish male sought to force their shared departure with their daughter on a flight to Turkey, he utilized the child as leverage against her, disclosed the 39-year-old mother during the hearing before the Hamburg Regional Court's Grand Criminal Chamber, where she participated via video call.
On November 4 of the previous year, the man managed to gain access to her Stade, Germany apartment by deception, threatened her with a weapon, and took their 4-year-old child into his custody. "I should have been more cautious," the woman emotionally confessed.
The man subsequently drove to Hamburg Airport with the child, crashed through multiple vehicle barriers with a rental car, and advanced as far as the runway. There, the indictment claims he used two Molotov cocktails, fired three shots into the air, and threatened to detonate himself and the child with an assumed explosive belt. He surrendered after 18 hours and was apprehended. The alleged explosive belt was shown to be a fake.
She met the defendant in 2017 online - in a "getting-to-know-you group on Facebook." Shortly thereafter, they married in Istanbul. Their families kept the marriage a secret at first. Responding to the judge's inquiry regarding their rapid marriage, she replied: "Love?" In the beginning of their relationship, her husband exhibited a "very helpful nature and extreme affection."
The couple wanted a child since it would make it simpler for her husband to remain in Germany. To conceive, she first made trips to her husband in Turkey. Later, he made his way to her in Hamburg with a tourist visa. "I realized that he was sometimes volatile," the 39-year-old said.
Minor stimuli sparked his volatility. "Domestic violence also increased," she acknowledged.
After the birth of their daughter, things remained peaceful for a brief period, but the fights intensified. The subject of separation was discussed. Nevertheless, she retained the relationship. They agreed to move into a larger apartment in Stade. "I didn't want to break up the family," she asserted. "I wanted my daughter to grow up with her father, and that's why I held out."
Numerous times, the suspect threatened to take the child away from her during an argument, she stated. "I gave you the child, I can also take it away from you," he allegedly said. Finally, he clandestinely whisked the child away to Turkey. Despite a Turkish court's temporary custody order, her husband initially refused to return the child. It took her weeks to reclaim her daughter and return to Germany.
The defendant largely followed his ex-wife's testimony with little reaction. Only when she described feeling compelled to "become a good wife" to reclaim her child in Turkey, moving into his apartment and engaging in sexual activity with him, did he angrily remove the headphones he was using to follow the Turkish translation of the testimony. After a warning from the judge, he reattached the headphones.
The divorce from her husband had taken place just a month before the hostage-taking at Hamburg Airport, the woman stated. Following the event, she and her daughter received treatment in a hospital due to the psychological strain. She is still undergoing therapy and is prescribed tranquilizers.
"I feel extremely guilty towards my daughter because I couldn't safeguard her," the witness remarked when questioned about her condition and emotional state. "I'm fearful when he is released."
Her ex-husband faces a prolonged prison term. The prosecution accuses him of kidnapping, depriving minors, aggravated assault, and various firearms offenses.
