Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.
At the very end Judge Joachim Bülter addressed the word again directly to the defendant: "I wish you, Mr. M., that in the near future you can gain a little more insight into what you have done." He also wished him to be psychiatric while in custody. An interpreter translates the words. Judge Bülter looks at the dock. Mourtala M. keeps his head down. Every now and then he looks at the clock while the court announces the verdict.
The first large criminal division of the district court of Hamburg has sentenced Mourtala M. to a life sentence for the murder of his 21-month-old daughter Mariam and the murder of her mother Sandra P. The board also noted the particular severity of the blame, following the motion of the prosecutor. The accused had killed in order to enforce his rights of power and possession of the child.
The fact that he cruelly murdered the little girl and made him the object of his revenge on his former partner, makes the act particularly reprehensible, says the judge. If the verdict becomes final, it would almost be impossible for the 35-year-old to be released from prison after 15 years.
He made an effort to punish his mother and child for his own wrongdoing
The deed happened on the morning of April 12, 2018 at the Hamburger S-Bahn station Jungfernstieg, in the presence of numerous passers-by. Mourtala M. became a double murderer because he did not accept that he should not see his daughter anymore. Instead of working on himself and getting his aggression under control so that he might someday be able to share his child's life again, he pretended to punish the girl and the young mother for his own wrongdoing, the judge says.
Judge Bülter speaks of the defendant's "depressing and difficult circumstances" and notes that they did not "ease the high level of guilt" that Mourtala M. had on himself. The defendant comes from a village in Niger. When the father died, he tried to feed his mother and siblings. He had sought work in Libya and fled after the outbreak of civil war in 2011 with a ship in the direction of Italy. Six refugees died when the ship rammed a rock off Lampedusa.
By April 2013, Mourtala M. had come to Hamburg. In Germany, he had been tolerated until he received a temporary residence permit in early 2018. One of the main reasons for this was that it was now officially known that he was the father of Mariam.
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In 2013, Sandra P. and Mourtala M. had met. In July 2016, Mariam was born. Nearly a year later, Sandra P. separated from him. He still wanted to see his daughter whenever he felt like it. Sandra P. tried, says the judge. She gave Mourtala M. one chance at a time. Even when she fell in love with another man, she wanted to make it possible for her ex-partner to continue dealing with his daughter. But Mourtala M. had repeatedly become aggressive, have also repeatedly pronounced death threats. Sandra P. did not take her seriously, according to the court.
A family court had temporarily forbidden Mourtala M. from approaching Mariam and Sandra P. Later, he was allowed to see his daughter regularly under supervision. Mourtala M. was not enough. He wanted joint custody. "She is my blood", Mariam is his blood, he said according to the family judge, who testified in the murder trial as a witness.
In his eyes this meant no one had to tell him if and when he could see his child. On April 11, 2018, the family court signaled that his request for joint custody will not succeed. The next day he slammed his knife, insidious and lowly, as the court stated.
Mourtala M. chose the emergency call himself
On the morning of April 12, 2018, he had seen his daughter, under the supervision of a family helper. Mariam had been anxious and timid towards the accused, he had said at the trial. Mourtala M. was hurt. In an admission he had said that he believed that the new friend of Sandra P. had acted on the child through a voodoo spell.
According to the court, Mourtala M. originally thought about killing Sandra P.'s new friend. Without concrete action plan he put a kitchen knife in his backpack on the morning of April 12th. The fact that he saw Sandra P., her new friend and Mariam at 10.45 o'clock at a S-Bahn station, was a coincidence. In the S-Bahn there was a dispute. Sandra P. told Mourtala M. that if he continued to be so aggressive he would not be able to see Mariam anymore. At the stop Jungfernstieg they got out. According to the conviction of the court, M. decided to kill at that time.
Sandra P. did not see the danger. For a moment, she left Mariam in the buggy at Mourtala M. and turned her back on them. He took the knife and poked it into his daughter's stomach, then sliced the child's neck. When Sandra P. wanted to see Mariam, he rammed the knife in the back of his ex-partner. He left his friend alive, threatened him and then ran away. A short time later, Mourtala M. himself called the emergency call, confessed the crime and was arrested.
"All witnesses are still emotionally burdened"
The defendant was at the time of the crime fully guilty, says the judge. The court thus follows the assessment of the psychiatric expert. The defendant has an impulsive-narcissistic personality accentuation, a personality disorder is not. That he believed in voodoo magic, corresponded to his cultural background. Only in the pre-trial detention did he develop a psychosis. Mourtala M. feels trapped by fellow inmates and servants and over the TV and the radio. He denies treatment.
The terrible act occurred before the eyes of many people. The judge says: "All witnesses are still mentally stressed." He wishes his relatives to "eventually settle down" and someday be able to overcome their grave loss. The four sons of Sandra P., who have become half-orphans, are in psychiatric treatment. "They also have a lifetime," says victim lawyer Claudia Krüger after the verdict, "like the defendant."
Mourtala M's defender Tim Burkert had portrayed the killings as an act of affect and pleaded for manslaughter. His client suffered from a delusional disorder and was only partially guilty. Whether he will challenge the verdict, he did not want to say on demand.
In summary: On April 12, 2018, Mourtala M. stabbed his ex-partner and daughter together at the Jungfernstieg S-Bahn station in Hamburg. For this purpose, the Hamburg district court has now sentenced him to life imprisonment and at the same time ascertained the particular severity of the guilt. According to the court, M. acted insidiously and for lesser motives. He had wanted to enforce his rights of possession and power on the daughter.