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Defendant next to his defense lawyer: particular gravity of guilt established

Photo: Patrick Schreiber / IMAGO

The Hanau Regional Court has sentenced a father to life imprisonment for the murder of his children. The court found the man guilty of murdering his seven-year-old daughter and eleven-year-old son. In addition, the court noted the particular gravity of the guilt. As a rule, this means that early release from prison after 15 years is almost impossible.

According to the indictment, the Indian wanted to punish his wife, who had separated from him. She acted as a joint plaintiff in the trial. According to investigations, on May 11 last year, the man had waited in the morning for his wife to leave the apartment and then lurked outside the door until the children opened it to go to school. In the apartment, the now 48-year-old had pressed his daughter onto a bed and probably cut her twice deep in the throat with a knife.

Perpetrators caught in France

The son was seriously injured while jumping from the balcony of the apartment on the ninth floor of a high-rise building. Passers-by had found the child, who died shortly afterwards in hospital. The father fled and was caught a few days later in a suburb of Paris.

"The two children had to die because they, like their mother, did not obey the accused," the presiding judge said. He described the man, referring to a psychiatric report, as "easily offended" and "impulsive".

"My act is inexcusable"

With the verdict, the court agreed with the request of the public prosecutor's office. The defender of the man had not made a concrete request in his plea, but pointed out that the exact events in the apartment had not been clarified on the day of the crime. It is unclear what prompted the son to jump out of the window. It is also unclear whether his client did not come to the apartment with the intention of at least trying to bring the children to India.

In his last words, according to a translator, the man had declared a few days ago: "I regret the death of my two children." In an earlier statement read out by his defence lawyer, he had admitted that his two children had died because of him. "My act is inexcusable," the defendant had declared.

bbr/AFP/dpa