In the trial at the Potsdam Regional Court for the murder of a teacher, the public prosecutor demanded life sentences for both defendants. In her almost four-hour closing statement, the public prosecutor also demanded that the guilt be determined to be particularly serious, which normally almost rules out release after 15 years in prison. The two men had fulfilled three characteristics of murder in their crime: greed, malice and base motives.
In May last year, a 40-year-old teacher was shot dead in her car on the hard shoulder of the A9 near Brück (Potsdam-Mittelmark district). Her former partner and his former school friend are now accused. They are said to have decided together to kill the woman after a long-standing custody battle with her ex-partner over their child. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the woman was eventually forced off the motorway by her school friend in a car and then shot.
Defendants accuse each other
In the circumstantial evidence trial, over 180 witnesses were questioned over more than 35 days. To date, no murder weapon has been found and none of the defendants has confessed. Instead, the two defendants accused each other. The public prosecutor believes that the crime was planned jointly. This is supported by WhatsApp conversations and whereabouts information that was determined via cell phone data.
According to the authorities, the ex-partner had repeatedly stressed to various people how much he would like to “get rid of” the mother of his child. He once openly threatened the woman when the child scalded its foot in her presence. To his former schoolmate, he initially only loosely expressed the idea of getting rid of the woman. Over time, the plans – or so the public prosecutor suspects – became more and more concrete.
Ultimately, both of them are said to have procured an “untraceable car”. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the ex-partner also procured a pistol. Before his school friend finally carried out the plan, he sold his bungalow in order to flee abroad in a caravan after the crime. Because the caravan was already damaged in Austria, this plan failed. Both were eventually arrested independently of each other in Germany.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240910-930-228722/1
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