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Defendant in court (archive image)
Photo: Matthias Balk / picture alliance / dpa
More than a year and a half after the disappearance of a woman and her daughter, the Munich District Court I sentenced the husband and stepfather to 14 years and six months in prison.
It found the man guilty of manslaughter.
The bodies of the two women were never found.
"After the evidence we are convinced that the two women are dead," said the presiding judge Norbert Riedmann at the end of the circumstantial trial.
"The Chamber is convinced that the defendant killed the two women on July 13, 2019."
The main evidence was two carpets from the family's apartment that were smeared with the blood of mother and daughter and hidden in the undergrowth of the Truderinger Forest in the east of Munich.
The investigators also suspect the bodies of mother and daughter there.
There were traces of blood on the walls in the hallway, on the washing machine and dryer, in the underground car park, on the defendant's car and on his socks.
Last WhatsApp message from the daughter: "I'll write you back in a moment"
He himself changed his version of events in the course of the investigation.
He told the police that the day of the disappearance was perfectly harmonious when the two women went shopping.
In court, he said that after they had had lunch together peacefully, they suddenly quarreled so badly that they mutually injured each other.
Then they straightened each other's hair and went shopping together.
"The suspicion arises that the statement was adapted to the results of the investigation after studying the files," said Riedmann.
Due to the two different versions, the information provided by the accused would be even more implausible than it already is.
"We hardly believe it is understandable that a harmonious lunch can lead to an argument between the two women within less than an hour that ends with bleeding injuries," said Riedmann - and that "they then straighten each other's hair and go shopping together walk as if nothing had happened «.
The public prosecutor's office assumes that the now 46-year-old first killed his wife during an argument and then his stepdaughter when she got home.
A WhatsApp message from the 16-year-old to a friend from 12:02 p.m. on the day of the day is the last sign of life for the young people.
"I'll write back to you in a moment," it said.
In his plea, the prosecutor had demanded that the man be convicted of manslaughter of the mother and murder of the daughter.
The daughter had to die because she became an unpleasant witness to the crime against her mother.
Covering up a crime is considered a motive for murder.
Doubts about the process
This version also considers the court to be the most likely.
The fact that the news at 12:02 p.m. was the last sign of life for the young people suggests "that their death occurred very shortly after entering the apartment," said Riedmann.
"But we don't know how and by which way either."
According to a spokeswoman, the public prosecutor's office wants to wait for the written reasons for the verdict before deciding whether to appeal the verdict.
The defendant wants to go on appeal.
He had demanded acquittal and denied the charges against him.
The penalty for manslaughter is between five and 15 years.
The court only found the defendant to have no criminal record.
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bbr / dpa