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Hildesheim district court: defendant in the courtroom
Photo: Moritz Frankenberg / dpa
Eight and a half months after the fatal knife attack on his wife in Burgdorf near Hanover, a 38-year-old has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.
The accused took advantage of his wife's lack of suspicion and defenselessness, who was standing by her car and could not expect an attack, the presiding judge said on Friday in the Hildesheim district court.
The 35-year-old wanted to make an appointment with a lawyer on the day of the crime in May 2022 to get a divorce.
According to the court, her husband was in despair over the forced separation from his wife after 18 years of relationship.
The family with two young sons lived in Wathlingen in the Celle district.
The verdict was followed by numerous relatives of the dead from the visitors' seats in the courtroom.
Four sisters of the 35-year-old appeared as joint plaintiffs.
They cried when the judge described the attack with a kitchen knife that the man had previously kept hidden in a breast pocket.
The mother of two suffered 15 stab wounds and died an hour later in the ambulance as a result of massive internal bleeding.
Passers-by had given first aid.
Unlike the prosecution, the chamber saw only the murder characteristic of malice, but no base motives.
The accused did not act out of excessive possessiveness, the judge explained.
The public prosecutor's office and the private prosecutor had also demanded life imprisonment, and the private prosecutor also demanded that the guilt be particularly serious.
However, the court did not take this for granted.
The defense of the accused, who confessed, had pleaded for 13 years in prison for manslaughter.
According to her assessment, it was a spontaneous and unplanned act in which no murder characteristics had been realized.
According to a spokesman, the court saw things differently.
Among other things, the accused acted in a planned manner, hid from the law firm and then exploited the element of surprise.
The judgment (Az.: 12 Ks 26 Js 18306/22) is not yet final.
wit/dpa/AFP
