A New Zealand court has convicted a man of killing a British backpacker. The jury in Auckland came to the conclusion that the 27-year-old New Zealander intentionally killed the young Briton Grace Millane eleven months ago.
Millane disappeared in Auckland the night before her 22nd birthday. She had arrived in New Zealand only a few days earlier. The young woman wanted to travel around the world for a year after she graduated. According to news agency AP, she met her future murderer via a dating app. In surveillance cameras, the two are shown in a bar - as well as how they enter the hotel together and take the elevator.
Millane's body was found only a week later in a suburb of Auckland. The perpetrator is said to have brought her out of the room and buried hidden in a suitcase.
The death of the backpacker shook New Zealand heavily. There were vigils throughout the country, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern apologized to the family. Millane's father had described his daughter as a "fun-loving, outgoing and family-oriented" woman during the day-long search.
Another woman reports of fear of death during sex
The defendant himself had stated in the process of accidentally strangling the young woman during sex - and pleaded not guilty in the process. Although he acknowledged that the young Briton had died in his apartment. His lawyers explained that Millane had asked the man to choke her. After her death, her client panicked and disposed of the body.
The prosecution dismissed this representation as a lying labyrinth. According to Millane, the defendant took pictures of the body, watched porn, and arranged the next Tinder date. According to experts, he choked her for minutes and should have noticed that the woman had become unconscious.
A witness, who had also served the man, told the AP News Agency in the trial that she had been dying for her life while having sex with him. The man had sat down on her face and forbidden her to breathe without his consent.
Millane's parents cried when the verdict was read. He would not make the pain of the family more bearable, Millane's father David said. The punishment is to be announced in February. The New Zealander faces at least ten years imprisonment, but the judge can also impose a life sentence.
