Darmstadt (dpa/lhe) - The Darmstadt Regional Court sentenced a 37-year-old to life imprisonment on Friday for insidious murder with base motives. At the beginning of November 2021, the man fatally injured the grandfather of his now four-year-old son at a kiosk in Darmstadt from behind with a stab in the head while the boy was looking for sweets.
The German arrested at the scene of the crime had said that he had killed the 52-year-old because he was sexually abusing the boy. The accused had been to the police and youth welfare office days before with this allegation. However, investigators could not confirm the allegations.
The court saw the unfounded allegations as part of the defendant's crime plan. "He chose his visits to the police and the office because it was important to him to make the act appear like the act of a madman," said the presiding judge in the verdict.
From the point of view of the chamber, the motive for the crime was that the 52-year-old made it difficult for the accused to access his ex-partner. Which for the court met the low motive trait of murder. The convict had regularly verbally and physically attacked the child's mother and grandparents and threatened them with death. He was also aggressive toward neighbors, vendors, and his landlord.
The psychiatric report found that the defendant did not have a psychosis, but a personality disorder associated with impulsiveness and the use of cocaine and marijuana.
During the verdict, the 37-year-old, who had previously been convicted of violent crimes, interrupted the presiding judge several times and was excluded from the rest of the hearing. The verdict is not yet legally binding.
