Neuburg an der Donau/Berlin (dpa/lby) - With the body of their 34-year-old sister in their suitcase, two brothers are said to have traveled by train from Berlin to Bavaria - in the process the girlfriend of one of the accused has now testified for further details.
The 42-year-old explained on Wednesday before the Berlin district court that when she picked up the two men from the train station in her Upper Bavarian place of residence, they had a large suitcase with them. She thought it contained her boyfriend's "clothes and other things". The woman repeatedly referred to a lack of memory.
The public prosecutor assumes that the accused murdered their divorced sister because she did not submit to the family's moral standards and also had a romantic relationship. The 27 and 23-year-old men are said to have killed their sister on July 13, 2021, then brought her body to Bavaria in a trolley case and buried it near Neuburg an der Donau. So far, the defendants have remained silent on the allegations.
The witness said the 27-year-old was the father of her youngest child. On the evening of July 13, 2021, he and his brother came from Berlin. The next morning he asked her to go to a hardware store to buy gloves, a spade and a shovel for a friend. Then he asked her to go to a "special place" nearby, according to the witness from Donauwörth. They were traveling in two cars.
She did not continue on a hill. "I stayed downstairs with the car, he wanted to be alone for a bit," said the woman. You didn't see if he lifted the suitcase out of the car. When he stood in front of her again, he hugged her - "I only saw that he was sad".
The accused were arrested on August 3, 2021 - the older brother in Bavaria, the younger in Berlin. Two days later, the older man's girlfriend led him to the place where the body was buried. "I still can't believe it," the witness said. Regarding contradictions in her various statements, she explained that she was initially in shock.
The case made headlines and triggered a debate about the term "honor killing" and the failed integration of refugees. The woman and the brothers came to Germany from Afghanistan a few years ago. The 34-year-old divorced her Afghan husband in 2018. The hearing will resume on June 10th.
