As of: January 24, 2024, 5:14 p.m
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Matthias Steinmann, presiding judge at the regional court, sits in the courtroom at the beginning of a murder trial.
© Rabea Gruber/dpa
On an early summer evening, witnesses discovered a man bleeding profusely at an intersection in Hamburg-Harburg.
He dies shortly afterwards.
Seven months later, his alleged murderer is on trial.
Hamburg - A trial began on Wednesday in the Hamburg regional court over fatal stabbings on the street.
The defendant is a 42-year-old whom the public prosecutor's office accuses of murder for base motives.
The defendant is said to have stabbed the victim on June 16 last year in the Harburg district.
The German wanted to take revenge for an argument that had taken place shortly before.
The dispute arose for a trivial reason.
The 42-year-old initially did not comment on the allegations.
“My client will defend himself in silence,” his lawyer said.
According to the police, residents heard a verbal argument between the 56-year-old victim and several men that evening, but were unable to locate it exactly.
They finally found the 56-year-old seriously injured and bleeding on the sidewalk at an intersection.
An emergency doctor was unable to save the man and he died on site.
Despite an immediate search involving more than 20 patrol cars and several plainclothes investigators, the perpetrator could not initially be caught.
However, the 42-year-old soon came under suspicion.
The public prosecutor's office obtained an arrest warrant.
Four days after the crime, the wanted man turned himself in to the police.
He did not provide any information before the judge, as can be seen from a protocol that the chairman of the Grand Criminal Chamber, Matthias Steinmann, read out on Wednesday.
The court had the recordings of six emergency calls played on Wednesday.
“There’s a man lying on the street.
(...) He's bleeding everywhere," said a woman in the first emergency call.
“He lost a lot of blood,” another caller said excitedly.
When the fire department official asked whether the injured man was still breathing, he said: "He's just gasping." A police officer, who was on site at the time as a police group leader, stated as a witness in court that the man in the ambulance had died at the scene .
The indictment stated that the man suffered large stab and cut wounds to his forearm and chest.
The ventricle was injured and the victim bled to death.
A colleague took the dead man's cell phone, said the police officer as a witness.
Family members reported on the phone.
However, the police did not initially report that the injured man was already dead.
Relatives drove to the nearest hospital.
There was an argument in front of the clinic.
More and more people also came to the site.
Due to the very emotional situation, ten cars with riot police officers were requested.
A crisis intervention team from the German Red Cross looked after the relatives.
It was a major operation that only ended early in the morning.
Three children of the man killed and a brother appear as co-plaintiffs in the trial.
According to a court spokesman, the defendant has a previous conviction for drug offenses and assault.
The court has scheduled six more hearings until March 1st.
dpa