Munich: Man strangles wife – nine years in prison

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Munich Regional Court: “Spontaneously made intent to kill”

Photo: Sven Hoppe / dpa

A 68-year-old man has been jailed for nine years for strangling his wife.

The Munich II Regional Court sentenced him to manslaughter, according to a press release.

The man's motive, according to the court: he didn't want to move again.

According to the information, the couple had already changed homes ten times at the instigation of the wife because she was not satisfied with the living conditions.

The apartment she last rented in the Weilheim-Schongau district did not meet her expectations either, which is why she wanted to move again.

When the accused woke his wife on the day of the crime in February 2021 to talk to her about the move again, she is said to have reacted dismissively.

The accused felt "disappointed and got angry" because of this, according to a statement from the court on Monday.

He then choked her for minutes “due to a spontaneous decision to kill” until she suffocated.

He then pulled two plastic bags over his dead wife's head and tied them around the neck.

"Unconditional Desire to Destroy"

According to a spokesman, the court ruled in favor of the accused, his confession and a suicide attempt made after the crime, which the judges were convinced was a sign of remorse.

The fact that the accused, who had no previous convictions, committed the act spontaneously also had a mitigating effect.

The chamber rated “an unconditional will to destroy” that he had shown as an aggravating sentence.

The verdict is not yet legally binding.

The defense and the Munich public prosecutor can appeal within a week.

Women are significantly more likely to be affected by intimate partner violence than men.

On average, a man in Germany tries to kill his (ex-)partner every other day.

It works every third day.

In 2020, 139 women and 30 men were killed by their current or former partner.

jpz/dpa/AFP