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Courthouse in Frankfurt am Main: murder of a 100-year-old senior
Photo: IMAGO/Dirk Sattler
The convicted woman must be in prison for much longer than her victim would have had to live: The district court in Frankfurt am Main has sentenced a geriatric nurse to life imprisonment for the murder of a 100-year-old.
In their verdict, the judges considered it proven that the 42-year-old suffocated her victim in his bed with a pillow in January last year.
After seven months of trial, the chamber came to the conclusion that the convict killed her victim to cover up a previous trespassing and attempted theft.
"That sums up all the evidence," said the presiding judge.
The woman had previously worked as a nurse for the elderly woman.
Entered the apartment with a night key
The presiding judge was convinced: "You were in the apartment and pressed the pillow on the victim's face until he was dead." Other constellations made no sense - neither motives nor traces of it had been found.
But the accused lived in financially precarious circumstances before the crime.
The German woman, who had gained access to the apartment with a duplicate key, had not commented on the accusation of murder.
The defense had requested acquittal.
The circumstantial trial began in April and occupied the jury for 17 days.
The deceased was the daughter of the biophysicist and honorary citizen of Frankfurt and Aschaffenburg, Friedrich Dessauer (1881-1963).
She worked as a translator, editor and author.
During her several weeks working as a carer for the elderly woman living on the banks of the Main in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen, she photographed various items worth stealing in her apartment and gained knowledge of where the cash was kept.
After the fact, she manipulated the locations of her mobile phone.
In addition, she behaved suspiciously during her first police interrogation by not asking about the identity of the victim when she was generally confronted with a homicide, the verdict said.
The verdict is not yet legally binding.
apr/dpa