Jan (4) suffocated in a sack: murder sentence against alleged cult leader overturned
Created: 05/24/2022, 06:58
By: Eric Sharp
The alleged cult leader is sentenced to life imprisonment after the trial of the four-year-old who was killed in a sack.
The Federal Court of Justice is now repealing that.
Hanau/Karlsruhe – Almost a year and a quarter after the murder verdict of the Hanau district court against the alleged cult leader Sylvia D. in the trial of four-year-old Jan, who suffocated in a sack, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) overturned the decision, as reported by op-online.de.
With a decision that became known on Monday (May 23), the procedure for a new hearing and decision was referred back to a jury chamber of the Frankfurt Regional Court, the Hanau Regional Court announced.
The procedure was originally negotiated there.
In Hanau there is also a trial against the mother of the child who was killed.
Cult murder in Hanau: Federal judges see "internal crime conception" not proven
From the point of view of the federal judges, the Hanau Criminal Court should have dealt more closely with the question of whether it was “an act of killing by active action or by omission” in the trial against the alleged cult leader.
In addition, when the alleged intention to kill the accused was determined, their ideas about the course of the crime were not sufficiently addressed, according to the statement.
Instead, "inadmissible reference was made to previous actions - instructions to the mother of the child - without at the same time describing the inner crime conception applicable at that time and providing evidence," the BGH found, according to the district court.
The federal judges had also demanded that the criminal responsibility of the accused had to be re-examined.
The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe collects the verdict in the trial of the sect murder in Hanau.
(symbol photo) © Uli Deck/dpa
Cult murder in Hanau: leader originally sentenced to life imprisonment
On September 24, 2020, the Hanau Regional Court sentenced the then 73-year-old suspected cult leader to life imprisonment for the murder of four-year-old Jan.
After a year-long trial, the judges found it proven that D. had the boy suffocated in a linen bag tied over his head on August 17, 1988, even though she knew that he was in mortal danger and had heard his screams.
D. not only accepted his death with approval, but acted intentionally and for base motives.
The boy passed out and choked on his vomit.
The Hanau regional court sentenced the alleged cult leader, who saw the boy as a reincarnation of Hitler, to life imprisonment.
The case, which dates back more than 30 years, was reopened in 2015 after tips and statements from sect dropouts.
The four-year-old's death had previously been considered an accident.
The alleged cult leader had appealed against the verdict.
Cult murder in Hanau: A process is also underway against the child's mother
A trial against the mother of four-year-old Jan, who was also accused of murdering the child, has been going on in the Hanau Regional Court since mid-September 2021.
The public prosecutor had accused her of putting the boy in the sack, tying it up and placing it in the care of the alleged cult leader - with fatal consequences.
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A few weeks ago, as reported, the regional court suspended the arrest warrant against the mother because, according to the status of the trial, there was “no longer any urgent suspicion” of a joint murder.
There is also “no weighty evidence” for aiding and abetting the murder.
The trial against the mother continues today.
(dpa/AFP/cs./gha)
