Bonn (dpa / lnw) - On Tuesday, the Bonn jury court sentenced a 54-year-old man to eight years and three months in prison for attempted murder and serious arson. According to the indictment, the former truck driver poured gasoline on his long-term partner and mother of a daughter shortly after Christmas 2021 and tried to set her on fire. However, the 44-year-old was able to free herself, rip off the petrol-soaked dress and flee to neighbors.
Then the accused smashed the living room window of the family home in Morsbach (Oberberg district) and poured more petrol into the house. He asked the four foster children present there to go to the first floor. After the children, aged between 4 and 17, disappeared, he ignited the gasoline using the dress as a fuse. The fire brigade extinguished the fire within half an hour, the children were not injured.
In contrast to the prosecutor, the court assumed that the 54-year-old did not want the children to die. By asking them to go upstairs, he wanted to get them out of danger. As a foster father, he was always kind and loving to the children. His ex-partner and the eldest foster daughter had confirmed this as witnesses.
According to the verdict, the background to the fact was that the 44-year-old had separated from the man a year earlier. Nevertheless, they had taken care of the children together. After a violent attack in November 2021, the foster father was not allowed to celebrate Christmas with the family. In both incidents, some of which were spontaneous, it was close to absolute catastrophe, the verdict said.
