Bavaria: Deggendorf murder trial: brother of the perpetrator testifies

Deggendorf (dpa / lby) - In the murder trial of the death of a young woman from the Bavarian Forest in autumn 2016, the brother of the perpetrator testified after all.

Bavaria: Deggendorf murder trial: brother of the perpetrator testifies

Deggendorf (dpa / lby) - In the murder trial of the death of a young woman from the Bavarian Forest in autumn 2016, the brother of the perpetrator testified after all. The 31-year-old described in detail on Friday before the Deggendorf district court what his brother said after the crime - including that he had stabbed his victim while he was sleeping. So far, the 31-year-old had made use of his right to refuse to testify.

The witness reported on what is expected to be the last day of the trial, how his brother told him about the death of his ex-girlfriend in the car in front of his apartment. He couldn't believe it at first and asked several times, the witness said. Then he realized that there had to be something to it. The brother said he and his ex-girlfriend had argued, she threatened him with a knife, he took the knife from her and stabbed her. The witness said he did not ask exactly how that happened. He didn't want to know the details.

The brothers went into the apartment together, where he noticed a trace of blood on the floor. It was bad for him, he had tunnel vision. The brother pointed to a niche behind the stove where he had hidden the body.

A few days later, the brothers met the perpetrator's best friend at the time at a gas station. The perpetrator had previously told his friend during a car ride that he had killed his ex-girlfriend. When the three of them met, the brother then said that he had killed the young woman in her sleep and then had sex with the corpse.

He found it "terrible" at the time and couldn't assess whether he could take it at "face value," the witness said. His brother seemed broken and exhausted to him. At that time, however, there was so much talk about the topic that he could no longer assign who he heard what from further details.

The defense attorneys pointed out that the friend had stated that he had not learned from the current defendant, but from him - his brother - that there had been sex with the corpse and that the killing had taken place in his sleep.

The witness said he fell into a hole at the time, couldn't sleep, took drugs and lost his job. It took months for him to find his way back into everyday life. The events gave him sleepless nights to this day. During the testimony, the witness was very tense - the accused also struggled to regain his composure at first. In a first trial in 2017, he was sentenced to twelve years in prison for the manslaughter of his ex-girlfriend.

However, because at that time two witnesses had testified falsely in favor of the accused - for which they were sentenced to a suspended sentence in 2019 before the Passau District Court - the proceedings have now been resumed. Since April, the 28-year-old has had to face a process a second time. Now it's about murder. The verdict could come in early September.