Widow murderer receives the harshest sentence in German criminal law
In Baden-Württemberg, a man brutally beats two senior citizens to death. The Heilbronn district court shows no leniency in the murder trial. In the end, the verdict even exceeds the prosecution's demands.
On January 20, 2023, a small, rather inconspicuous man is standing in a DIY store in Schwäbisch Hall. He takes a locksmith's hammer from the shelf, checks the tool and hits it repeatedly in the palm of his hand. Then he puts the hammer away and disappears. A camera films the scene. The man, 31 years old at the time, has just acquired a murder weapon. Five days later, he hits a senior citizen on the head with this hammer with full force, more than 20 times, until she is dead. The woman was not his first victim.
Today, the Serbian man, now 32 years old, was sentenced to life imprisonment at Heilbronn District Court for two counts of murder. The violent crimes terrified the Schwäbisch Hall region around a year ago. Two elderly widows were found dead in their homes in the Schwäbisch Hall area within a few weeks of each other - brutally beaten to death. One was 77, the other 89 years old. The convicted man had only moved to Schwäbisch Hall from Serbia with his family a few weeks earlier and, according to his account, wanted to earn money by exporting agricultural machinery.
Police do not suspect a crime
Shortly before Christmas, on December 21, according to the court, the man followed the 77-year-old woman home from the supermarket and forced his way into her apartment in the south of Schwäbisch Hall. He brought her to the floor and hit her several times on the head with an unknown object. He then stole at least 1000 euros from a cash box and disappeared. The woman was only found dead in her apartment two days later. The criminal investigation department initially assumed that she had died of natural causes - although the emergency doctor was of a different opinion. So the evidence was wiped away instead of being secured.
It was only when relatives found bloody bank statements in the cash box that the police resumed the investigation. Then, on January 17, the perpetrator failed in a robbery. He rang the doorbell of an elderly couple in the municipality of Ilshofen. He then punched the 83-year-old man, who opened the door, directly in the face, held a toy pistol in front of him and shouted: "You, money!". The old man fell down, but just managed to slam the door shut. The perpetrator fled without any loot.
A week later, on January 25, he gained access to the home of an 89-year-old woman in Michelbach. She always left the key on the outside of the apartment door so that the neighbors could check on her. The elderly lady could no longer hear well. She was sitting in her armchair reading the newspaper when the perpetrator attacked her and smashed the top of her head with a DIY store hammer. Because she had hardly any valuables at home, he left empty-handed again and disappeared. He threw the hammer and gloves into the bushes. The court found that several elements of murder were fulfilled, including greed and malice.
"God is my witness"
The judges now handed down the harshest sentence that German criminal law has to offer. Although there is always life imprisonment for murder, there is little leeway - life imprisonment means that the perpetrator can only be released after 15 years at the earliest. However, in this case the court also found that the offender was guilty of a particularly serious crime, which means that this period is postponed indefinitely. In addition, preventive detention was ordered, as the court considered it likely that the man would commit violent crimes again. The verdict even exceeded the demands of the public prosecutor's office, which only wanted to reserve the right to preventive detention.
"The court pulled out all the stops," said the defendant's defense lawyer after the verdict. He wanted to lodge an appeal so that he could examine the written reasons for the verdict at his leisure. The verdict is not yet final. The defendant himself took the floor at the end of the trial - and vehemently denied all accusations. "I didn't come here with my wife and children to do something like this," said the man. With regard to the homicides, he said that this was not "his style". "I can only say this: God is my witness."
"There is no doubt in the overall picture"
Yet so many traces pointed to his perpetration. For example, shoe marks at the crime scenes or geodata from the man's cell phone. DNA traces were also discovered at all the crime scenes, one with an accuracy of 1 in 1.64 trillion, another with an accuracy of 1 in 2.7 quadrillion. "Overall, there is no doubt that you committed the crimes," said the judge. There were also no indications of complicity, as the defense considered possible in the trial. The hammer video from the DIY store finally put the investigators on the man's trail.
But what motivates a person to attack single, old and defenceless people so brutally and in such cold blood? The trial was unable to answer this question. The convicted man has a school-leaving certificate, he led a regular life in Serbia and worked in his father's business. He is the father of two children, has never had a criminal record and is not known to have any mental disorders. He had also not acted in the heat of passion, said the judge. Even the 32-year-old's lawyer was surprised, as his client had always been described as peace-loving: "I can't explain it."
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In the international community, the severity of the crimes committed by the Serbian man in Baden-Württemberg has sparked discussions about the need for stricter laws to address cases of murder and manslaughter, particularly against senior citizens.
Despite his innocent portrayal in Serbia, the 32-year-old man's processes in Baden-Württemberg courts revealed a dark side, leading to a life sentence for two counts of murder, following the brutal deaths of two elderly widows in the region.
Source: www.ntv.de
