Sometimes Franz W. saw ghosts. They stood at his bedside at night or sat on the stairs in the hallway of his house. The 83-year-old man was scared. Fear of ghosts. Fear of being robbed. Afraid of being poisoned. His brother organized for him a caretaker, who should also be there for Franz W. at night. Grzegorz W. was to scare away the ghosts.
But Grzegorz W. did not scare her away. According to the indictment, the 38-year-old Franz W. poisoned and robbed. At least five other people in need of care are said to have killed Grzegorz W. Because of murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily injury he must answer since the end of November before the district court Munich.
On Wednesday, the first relatives of one of his alleged victims testified. Dagmar W. is 71 years old. She is the sister-in-law of Franz W. and married to his younger brother. Together with her husband, she organized the help for the 83-year-old and visited him several times a week.
"It was important to us that there was always someone with him"
Franz W. could only move in a wheelchair, was suffering from Parkinson's. During the day he was well taken care of. A woman took care of the garden. Another woman, Maria, was cooking for him and keeping him company. A third wife cleaned the house. There was a driver who became a friend over time. And there were employees of a nursing service, the Franz W. mornings and evenings washed and supplied with tablets.
Only at night was the man alone. And that did not work any more, said Dagmar W. Franz W. fell out of bed or fell when he wanted to get something to drink. "It was important to us that there was always someone with him," says Dagmar W. She and her husband turned to a Hamburg-based agency that provided nurses through agencies abroad.
"He did not have the strength to take care of him"
From February 10, 2018, Grzegorz W., trained locksmith from Poland, was to take care of Franz W. Unexpectedly Grzegorz W. arrived the night before, his predecessor was still there. "And when suddenly two men stood at the bedside in front of my brother-in-law, he got scared," says the witness. Franz W. called the police. He did that more often. The police informed Dagmar W. and her husband about the call. The next day they drove to Franz W.
When they saw Grzegorz W., small and overweight, they knew he was the wrong person for the job. "We could not imagine he could lift my brother-in-law," she says. "He did not have the strength to take care of him." Maria, the domestic help, complained about Grzegorz W. He was "very rude" with the old man handled, have used it and had no idea of care.
The presiding judge Elisabeth Ehlr asks about the constitution of her brother-in-law during her visit on Saturday, shortly before his death. "Good," says Dagmar W. "Was he clear mind?" "I've never seen him mentally unclear." Franz W. could have run bad, otherwise he was missing nothing.
Then the witness reports on the fears of her brother-in-law. "He was always afraid that he would be robbed or killed," she says.
The defendant almost nods
The judge looks to the dock. Grzegorz W. does not seem particularly interested in what the witness says and translates an interpreter into Polish for him. He is about to nod. "Mr. W.?", Shouts the judge. Grzegorz W. startles. The judge waves to him.
Grzegorz W. claims that almost all the men and women he was supposed to nurture in Germany acted aggressively and insulted him. Also Franz W. should have been failing.
The judge asks the witness about her brother-in-law's contact with the people who should take care of him. "My brother-in-law was decisive, but I can not say he was rude," she says. To offend others, "that was not his style." He also did not beat himself. "He would not have had the strength to do that."
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Franz W. has been a rather difficult person, however, says his younger brother, Herbert W. The 74-year-old is the husband of Dagmar W. He speaks on this day as the first witness.
But Herbert W. also says that his brother was mentally "fully there". Only when he had not taken his pills had he been confused. "Then he thought he should be poisoned." Or he saw ghosts.
"Then he took a stick, hit it, then the ghosts were gone, and when they came back, he called the police, so we said to him, Franz, you have to take your pills." The judge asks if his brother took his pills on the day of his death. "He must have taken her, he did not talk about ghosts."
"That someone does that, I did not have that idea."
When his wife, Dagmar W., is about to describe how she learned of her brother-in-law's death, she struggles with tears. In the middle of the night, she got a call from Maria, the domestic help. Grzegorz W. had called her and said that Franz W. was dead. Dagmar W. immediately dialed her brother-in-law's number. Grzegorz W. answered the phone. He also told her he believed that Franz W. had died. "How did he sound on the phone?" Asks the judge. "Normal," she says.
With her husband she drove immediately to her brother-in-law's house. Grzegorz W. was sitting in the kitchen drinking apple spritzer. "I still comforted him," says Dagmar W. "I told him it can happen that an old person dies." How did Grzegorz W. react? "He was very calm." He was neither nervous nor otherwise conspicuous.
At the thought that he could have killed her brother-in-law, she did not come. "That someone does that, I did not have that idea."