- The trial of a dismembered body in Nordhorn begins
After the discovery of a dismembered body in a canal in Nordhorn, a suspect is to face trial at the Regional Court of Osnabrück on charges of manslaughter. The 55-year-old man is accused of having fatally injured a 51-year-old with severe violence in February. The defendant's partner, a 49-year-old woman, is also facing trial. She is accused, among other things, of aiding in the dismemberment of the body.
According to the indictment of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the incident took place on February 9 in the apartment of the Ukrainian defendant. In a drunken state, he got into an argument with the later victim, a 51-year-old man.
Among other things, he struck the also drunk 51-year-old multiple times with a vodka bottle, causing severe head and upper body injuries. The background of the dispute is said to be the defendant's suspicion that the 51-year-old had harassed his partner.
Together, they allegedly dismembered the body using an angle grinder and threw the parts, wrapped in several bags and cloths, into the Ems-Vechte Canal in Nordhorn. Due to the condition of the body, the exact cause of death could not be determined by the medical examiner, the prosecutor said.
On the first day of the trial, witnesses included the individuals who found the body parts and the police officers who were first on the scene. A 28-year-old man and his 53-year-old father found the bags containing the body parts and a severed lower leg on February 17.
They initially thought the bags were trash. The 28-year-old reported that he had taken his car to a nearby workshop and, while waiting, they went for a walk along the canal. He saw the bags in the water and thought someone had thrown trash in the canal. Since he and his father are fishermen, they wanted to pull the supposed trash out of the water.
When the father opened a sewn-up, elongated cloth object, a lower leg with toes fell out. He then called the police.
The 53-year-old father described how he wanted to look at the spot on the canal with his son because he was going carp fishing soon and was looking for a suitable spot. The bags near the shore were already visible from a distance. His first thought was that someone had disposed of their household waste there - which happens quite often in waters. His son pulled out an object that looked like a woman's stocking from the water and said it looked strange, he thought it was meat. "I could already see it was a leg," the 53-year-old said. He immediately sent his daughter-in-law with the two small children away and waited for the police with his son.
The court has scheduled ten trial days until early November. Both defendants have stated through their lawyers that they wish to make a statement during the main trial.
The case against the defendant and his partner is being handled by The Office of the Prosecutor, who presented the indictment detailing the alleged events that led to the manslaughter charge. During the trial, testimonies were given by witnesses who stumbled upon the dismembered body parts and the police officers who first responded to the scene.
