After the murder of a 16-year-old in Swabia, two defendants have been sentenced to long prison terms.

A 26-year-old man received a life sentence on Thursday, and a 16-year-old co-defendant received a youth sentence of nine and a half years.

The maximum sentence provided for by law would have been ten years for her.

The verdict for joint murder was pronounced behind closed doors at the Memmingen district court by the presiding judge, Thomas Hörmann.

The court had excluded the public for a large part of the proceedings because of the age of the accused youths.

The verdict was announced after the hearing.

According to the indictment, the duo had drugged the young people on a pretext a year ago in November 2021 near Memmingen Airport, knocked them down with a bottle and stabbed them to death.

All three knew each other and were friends.

A broken friendship

The body was found near Allgäu Airport near Memmingen.

The girl's parents had reported their daughter missing when the 16-year-old didn't come home on a Sunday evening.

The dead person was discovered the next day and a short time later the two suspects, aged 15 and 25 at the time, were arrested.

The motive for the crime was initially unclear during the investigation.

The district court was now assuming an act of revenge, which essentially emanated from the accused 16-year-old.

The background is said to have been that the friendship of the young people was broken.

The accused man admitted the crime in court, but presented it as a rash act.

His co-defendant admitted her presence in the crime but denied any involvement.

The 26-year-old must also pay the parents of the dead a compensation of 50,000 euros.

In addition to life imprisonment for his drug use, the court ordered him to be placed in a rehab facility.

The case has been negotiated since the end of August, and there were a total of 23 days of the process.

In mid-September, the court then excluded the public from the further proceedings because the 16-year-old's defense attorney had requested this.

The accused youth was in poor mental health.