His nickname was "The Transporter", after an action film in which the hero performs daredevil maneuvers in his car and is not hampered by any obstacle. Hamdi H. also raced through the area with his car. But unlike the man in the movie, he lost control of his vehicle. At about 160 km / h he raced in one night in February 2016 in Berlin first on the Kurfürstendamm and then on the Tauentzienstraße in the jeep of a pensioner. The man did not survive the collision.

Hamdi H., 29, has to answer for murder before the Berlin district court. Marvin N., 27, is sitting next to him in the dock. He too is accused of murder. That night he is said to have delivered a race with Hamdi H., which ended fatally for the uninvolved pensioner.

Did Hamdi H. feel like a movie hero and raced through Berlin with the fatal illusion that he was always in control of the situation, as the defense means? Or did he know how dangerous his speed-madness was and did he consciously accept the death of bystanders, as the prosecution sees it?

"Maximum risk"

It is the third trial in this case. A first verdict was lifted, a second trial failed right after the start. Now, the 32nd Large Criminal Division is chaired by Judge Matthias Schertz.

The young woman, who reported on Wednesday to the court by the nickname of Hamdi H., knows both defendants. The 27-year-old was a waitress in a shisha bar on the Kurfürstendamm, where Marvin N. and Hamdi H. were frequent guests. Hamdi H. was proud of his reputation for driving fast.

DPA

Defendant Hamdi H. (2nd from right) in the first trial in February 2017

The witness reports: Three or four days before the accident, she was sitting in the car of a colleague when Hamdi H. wanted to race with him on the Kurfürstendamm. The accused had driven over red traffic lights, at a construction site he had cut her with his car. "That was really like in the movie, maximum risk," the judge quoted an earlier statement by the woman: "I have seen no one driving so before." The witness says she can not remember it well today.

The judge continues to read from the minutes. It was very lucky that something had not happened then. The witness confirms her statement. If it's like that, then she said that too.

"The fiancée of Hamdi threatened me"

Shortly after the accident, the witness stopped working in the hookah bar. She does not mention a reason for this in court. She does not know how her colleagues and guests reacted to her statement to the police today, she says on demand. But she still remembers a reaction.

When she testified as a witness in one of the previous trials, she walked along the street in front of the court afterwards. At a crossroads suddenly the fiancee of Hamdi H. and a second woman got out of a car and ran after her. "The fiancee of Hamdi threatened me," she says. "I'm guilty of being convicted of murder, but since nothing came of it, I think that was a short-circuit reaction."

Hamdi H. did not see her in the shisha bar after the accident. Unlike Marvin N., who was a good friend of the managing director. With him, N. also reported immediately after the accident. "Something bad happened," her boss told her. Together they drove to Marvin N. to the hospital. He sat on the bed, cried and looked very shocked. "That came close to him, what happened there, you saw that." Hamdi H. also saw her briefly at the hospital. He laughed. Since he was under the influence of strong painkillers, she did not take that seriously.

A friend was driving

Another witness reported in the morning of an experience with Marvin N. For two months, the today 22 -year-old hotel expert was in a relationship with the defendant. He ended the relationship against her wish. On this day of the trial, the ex-girlfriend has to admit to court that she may have wrongfully charged him with rage afterwards.

She turned to the "Bild" newspaper after the accident, claiming that he had participated in an illegal car race before the accident. She would have sat in the passenger seat back then. In fact, Marvin N. was not behind the wheel at the time, a friend drove the car. She and Marvin N. sat in the backseat. It was not a race. The boyfriend would have driven her home from a club at much faster speed that night. The friend was drunk. Marvin N. was still inciting him. The witness says she yelled at both of them. "I did not want to die yet."