Murder of doctor - Half-time in the trial of the murdered doctor from the Eifel region
The trial against the murdered doctor from the Eifel region, with three accused, is in its second half at the Landgericht Trier. On the eighth of the sixteen previously scheduled trial days, two cousins of the youngest accused testified. They reported that the 17-year-old had confessed to them about the doctor's murder shortly after the incident, when the doctor was still considered missing, and the suspicion of a violent crime only emerged later.
"He said he was alone," said one of the cousins, a 20-year-old. They were not supposed to reveal it to anyone. He had told them that he had hit the doctor on the head with a tool and buried his body in the woods. Then he poured concrete mix over it and started the car to wipe out traces. The motive was that they, his half-brother and his mother, felt threatened by the doctor.
Trio on the Defendant's Bench
All three currently sit on the defendant's bench after the violent death of the orthopedist from Gerolstein at the end of 2022: the 36-year-old fiancée of the victim, her 18-year-old son, and his 17-year-old half-brother. And at the new trial day, after the testimony of the cousins and a new account of the alleged crime: The truth-finding process is proving to be challenging.
According to the indictment, the three accused are alleged to have killed the doctor in his house in Gerolstein according to a plan and buried his body in a wooded area. Motive: The 53-year-old had been drinking excessively alcoholically for a long time, and verbal and physical assaults had occurred. The same was alleged to have happened on the night of the crime.
The young men are charged with murder from the hiding place. They are alleged to have attacked the doctor with a baseball bat and a screwdriver and then strangled him with cables around his neck. The charge against the woman is manslaughter, as she was present at the scene of the crime but did not participate.
Another Version of the Accused
She denies this: She was not present and did not witness anything, as she was upstairs with the other three small children she had with the victim in the bedroom. And she denied that the crime was planned by the three. "It was a spontaneous act of the two boys," said one of their lawyers, Walter Teusch.
Teusch reported at the trial on Tuesday on the sidelines that the children, aged seven, eight, and twelve, had recently been questioned by the police. "They know nothing and saw nothing," he said matter-of-factly.
The doctor, who was last seen at his workplace in the hospital in Daun at the end of 2022, was missing for months. In June 2023, a hiker discovered mortal remains in the woods and reported it to the police. The suspects have been in pre-trial detention since September 2023.
What happens next?
"We are still at the very beginning," said Teusch. He filed a request for obtaining a psychological evaluation report on the credibility and reliability of the statements made by the youngest defendant. There are doubts about the statements made during the police interrogations, which allegedly emerged "through suggestive questioning." The 17-year-old had repeatedly said in relation to the supposedly jointly planned crime: "That was never really planned, that was just said."
Currently, there are still eight more dates scheduled until August 21. Then the verdict may be handed down. During the next trial days, the court intends to hear more witnesses and experts.
Video recordings
In this trial, ample video material from police interrogations has been shown. On Tuesday, another short sequence followed: It showed the 17-year-old in the house where the trio was supposed to have talked about the planning of the crime. They had talked about "clearing the way for the doctor," the young man said. He did not take it "completely seriously."
Teusch, the Saarbrücken lawyer, looks critically at the interrogation videos of the accused 17-year-old shown in the trial. "These statements have taken an extremely long time. It was catastrophic what the police did there. Unimaginable suggestive influence," he said.
Moreover, a reconstruction of the crime scene was played, in which policemen reenacted the crime. The 17-year-old had then "directed, positioned, and said: That was like this," said Teusch. Here too, "much was suggestive."
Defendant "extremely burdened"
The defendant had met the doctor during her nursing training and had lived with him since 2012. It's not going well for her, her lawyer said. She is "extremely burdened" and is suffering because she no longer sees her three small children. The children are now in foster families.
- The trial in Rhineland-Palatinate's Landgericht Trier is focusing on the murder of a doctor from the Eifel region, specifically Gerolstein.
- The testimonies of the two cousins of the 17-year-old accused have shed light on the confession made shortly after the incident about the doctor's murder.
- The 36-year-old fiancée, her 18-year-old son, and his 17-year-old half-brother are all implicated in the violent death of the orthopedist.
- The trial session in Trier revealed that the motive for the crime was allegedly due to feelings of threat by the doctor towards the accused's half-brother and mother.
- The doctor, who was last seen in Daun's hospital in late 2022, was missing for several months before being found in a wooded area in June 2023.
- As the trial progresses, more witnesses and experts, including a potential psychological evaluation report, will be heard to clarify the details of the crime and the statements made by the defendants.
