Judgment against truck driver Boujemaa L .: First "Affektsturm", then murder

Sophia L. must have been a happy and happy person. Numerous photos in the files showed the student, says the judge Bernhard Heim, "and there is hardly a picture in which she does not laugh, on which she does not look happy".

Usually the person of the accused dominated criminal proceedings, "that was not the case here". Her family and her friends had contributed to the fact that Sophia L. was "omnipresent" in the trial before the Bayreuth district court, the judge says at the beginning of the verdict.

On June 14, 2018 Sophia L. wanted to drive home to the Bavarian Amberg as a hitchhiker from Leipzig, where she studied. Her father had a birthday the next day. At the Schkeuditzer Kreuz service station in Saxony, the student asked the driver Boujemaa L. for a ride shortly before 6 pm. The 42-year-old was on his way back from Leipzig to Morocco, where he lives with his wife and three children.

According to the court, the defendant killed Sophia L. only hours later. The 1st Grand Criminal Court sentenced Boujemaa L. to life imprisonment for murder and dangerous bodily harm.

How the act happened

The judges assume that Boujemaa L. made an overture on this June evening around 21 clock on the motorway rest area Sperbes in the district of Bayreuth. The defendant knew that Sophia L. had left shortly afterwards. He knew that this stop was the last opportunity to approach the 28-year-old with sexual intent. How exactly Boujemaa L. did this, the court could not clarify.

There were photos on his phone. The day before the crime the defendant had apparently photographed strangers, and one hour before he met Sophia L., he photographed himself in masturbation. The court therefore assumes a "sexualized mood" of the defendant at the time of the offense.

Unlike the indictment, the judges do not mean that he raped or coerced Sophia L. but merely made her aware of his interest. That Sophia L. had rejected him, massively offended Boujemaa L. It had come to a dispute in the course of Sophia L. gave him a slap. This blow had the defendant disengaged. The court speaks of an "emotional storm".

Boujemaa L. was, according to the conviction of the judges, outraged. He probably could not control his behavior at that moment. At least four times Boujemaa L. hit the head of Sophia L. with a wheel nut wrench. She had slipped unconscious from the seat.

The accused had dropped out, calmed down and considered what he should do now. In order to prevent Sophia L. from displaying him because of the beatings, he decided to murder her. He got back in the truck. Sophia L. had slightly raised her head again and held out her hand to him. The defendant struck again. In the opinion of the court, only this blow was deadly. "So it is clear to us that the defendant has killed a person in the intention of concealment," says Judge Heim. Unlike the previous blows, Boujemaa L. was now fully culpable.

"As we hoped and expected"

The defendant had wanted to leave Germany as quickly as possible after the murder and wanted to eliminate the body of Sophia L. On June 18 he dropped her off in northern Spain. One day later the cab of the truck burned down completely. The fact that Boujemaa L. set the truck on fire, "is possible, even probable, but not sufficiently sure," says the judge. Three days later, Sophia L. was found.

Judge Heim says the defendant tried to apologize to Sophia L.'s family. He also wanted to convey insight and remorse and by his confession considerably facilitated the argument. The court has followed his statements in large parts. However, the judges did not relieve him that a dispute had arisen because Sophia L. had ransacked his belongings.

The lawyer of the family of Sophia L. says afterwards that the verdict is "as we hoped and expected". The defense, on the other hand, had been convicted of manslaughter, not murder. In the opinion of defender Karsten Schieseck, the first blows were deadly. He says that Boujemaa L. is nevertheless inclined to accept the verdict.

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