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Defendant in court: "There was not a single evidence of natural death"
Photo: Sina Schuldt / dpa
A 19-year-old was tied naked to a concrete slab and thrown into the Weser in April 2020.
In the murder trial against three defendants, the public prosecutor has now demanded life imprisonment in her final speech (Az. 1 Ks 113/20).
The two men and the woman should be convicted of, among other things, attempted murder by omission and human trafficking, she demanded before the district court in Verden.
However, the process could not clarify exactly how the seriously mentally ill woman died.
What is certain is that the 19-year-old, weighted down with a concrete slab, was sunk in the Weser.
Less than three weeks after the crime, a bargee found the body in the area of the lock canal in the municipality of Balge in Lower Saxony.
It was obvious that the 19-year-old was sunk alive in April 2020, said the prosecutor. According to her, however, it cannot be proven with certainty that she drowned. It is therefore also possible that the woman suffering from paranoid schizophrenia died on the property of the now 41-year-old defendant and her body was thrown into the Weser. Or that the woman was sunk in an unconscious state. "We just cannot determine it without reasonable doubt," said the public prosecutor, who repeatedly described the behavior of the three defendants as inhuman and cruel.
The woman was "bought" like goods for 2000 euros and drug debt waiver, she described.
After that, the 41-year-old and the 54-year-old defendant tried to market the woman as a prostitute.
According to the prosecutor, they took advantage of the woman's predicament: when they realized that a business was not possible because of the woman's health, they wanted to get rid of her.
The process could not clarify what exactly happened on the day the 19-year-old died.
But: "There was not a single evidence of a natural death," said the prosecutor, referring to an expert opinion.
According to the findings of the public prosecutor's office, the woman was guarded in the apartment building and later in the garage of the 41-year-old in the hours before her death.
Strangled in the garage?
Her condition there deteriorated significantly.
She vomited, had difficulty breathing and was not responsive, said the lawyer.
Accordingly, her life was in danger - but no one came for help.
It is possible that the 19-year-old was strangled in the garage or that the accused left her there until she died.
Anyone who tied the young woman to the stone slab and threw it into the river could not clarify the process either.
The defendants did not comment on these allegations.
According to prosecutors, the men and women did a lot to cover up their actions.
The 19-year-old's personal belongings were burned, data deleted and the transport vehicle scrapped.
The prosecutor cited low motives as a further characteristic of the murder and described the behavior of the defendants as abhorrent.
The secondary prosecution called the acts brutal and cruel.
The lawyer, who represented a brother of the killed, spoke of a painful death and a cold-blooded execution.
The family would have liked to know what exactly was happening.
He said of the victim: “She did not have a good life.
She did not experience love.
It was used and resold like a thing. ”The 19-year-old, who had drug problems and used to volunteer as a prostitute, leaves behind two children who have been living with foster parents for a long time.
Unclear circumstances of death
The defender of the 41-year-old called for her client to be sentenced to under five years' imprisonment for human trafficking and dangerous bodily harm by omission. She also pointed out that many questions were unanswered. "We don't even know how she died and when the exact time of death was," said the lawyer.
The 54-year-old's lawyer called for a conviction for aiding and abetting human trafficking and for dangerous bodily harm by omission.
The arrest warrant should be lifted.
In her plea for her client, the lawyer of the 40-year-old accused demanded a two-year suspended sentence for dangerous bodily harm through failure and failure to provide assistance.
In addition, the arrest warrant should be lifted.
In the indictment, the public prosecutor had accused the three defendants of murder.
Accordingly, the trio is said to have killed the defenseless, mentally ill 19-year-old in April 2020 cruelly and for low motives in order to cover up other crimes.
The verdicts are expected next Thursday.
ptz / dpa
