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Defendant in the courtroom (archive picture): "Why don't you say anything?"
Photo: Harald Tittel / dpa
A gunman raced his car through a pedestrian zone in Trier on December 1, 2020, several people died.
Surviving victims and eyewitnesses of the crime have now reported on the experiences and the consequences of the crime in court.
“He just came up to me. It all happened so quickly, "said a 70-year-old in front of the Trier district court. She tried to save herself in the direction of the facade of the house - he caught her leg. “I screamed, but he just kept going. Everything that came flew through the air. I felt like I was on a hunt, ”said the woman. The alleged gunman Bernd W. is said to have been one of the first people to target her.
Even if she is physically largely healed, she suffers severely from psychological consequences.
"I haven't been downtown until today," said the woman.
She is afraid of fast moving cars and often wakes up at night screaming.
"I keep seeing the tires moving towards me." She doesn't let go of the question of why.
"Why don't you say anything?" She asked the defendant in the courtroom.
The alleged gunman drove his off-road vehicle almost a kilometer through the pedestrian zone on December 1, 2020 and hit people in a targeted manner.
In the act five people died and numerous others were injured.
The 52-year-old has been on trial since August 19.
The prosecution accused him of five murders and tried murder in 18 other cases.
In October, a 77-year-old man who was seriously injured in the act died.
It still has to be clarified whether the injuries suffered were the cause of death.
ptz / dpa