As of: February 16, 2024, 10:24 a.m
By: Leoni Billina
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A 70-year-old is said to have brutally murdered out of greed 45 years ago.
The defendant remains silent about the allegations.
Munich - The prosecution's accusation: murder.
Committed 45 years ago on a Munich pensioner who was found in his bathtub with his skull crushed.
The last time the victim was seen alive was shortly before New Year's Eve 1978, according to the indictment before the Munich regional court on Thursday (February 15) - in the company of a young man who investigators were convinced was the defendant.
The defendant is on trial for a murder 45 years ago.
© Arne Dedert/dpa/Symbolbild
The defendant is a British citizen living in his home country
The investigators only discovered the Brit, who lived in his home country, during the course of processing old cases - a rare success after all these decades.
At the start of the trial, however, the defendant made no statements about himself or the allegations themselves.
However, according to the police “cold case” officer, who was interviewed as a witness, both the fingerprints and DNA traces found match.
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The case caused a great stir at the time as the “New Year's Eve Murder”: relatives were worried because the victim, who was known to hang out with prostitutes, had not appeared at a mass as agreed and had not responded to calls.
The police then found the 69-year-old dead in his bathtub on January 2nd with his skull shattered.
According to the public prosecutor's office, the defendant is said to have disappeared with at least 1,000 marks in cash, a coin ring and a key.
The ring was found at a subway construction site, but otherwise the investigation came to nothing.
A hit report only came in 2021 - from England
However, the police had secured three fingerprints in the apartment at the time, as well as a hair and liquid on the bed sheet.
In 2005, thanks to advances in forensic science, DNA traces were extracted from these evidence.
When the files were reopened, the Munich case handler compared the fingerprints across Europe in 2018.
However, the hit report only came at the end of 2021 - from England.
The alleged perpetrator was arrested there without resistance in spring 2023 - murder does not have a statute of limitations.
Now that the man, who has already been convicted twice for robbery and receiving stolen property and was imprisoned for many years, has remained silent, the court is facing a more complex procedure: “Of course, a lot of witnesses have died,” said the presiding judge.
Accordingly, the proceedings are based on many old documents, all of which have to be translated for the defendant.
The verdict is expected to come at the beginning of April.
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