crime
Explosion in Ratingen: Life imprisonment for the accused
In the trial surrounding the explosion in a high-rise building in Ratingen, the defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder. photo
© David Young/dpa
The verdict has been announced in the trial surrounding the murder attempt on emergency services in Ratingen near Düsseldorf. The evidence against the 57-year-old defendant was overwhelming.
After the explosion in a high-rise building in In Ratingen near Düsseldorf, a 57-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder. The Düsseldorf regional court found him guilty and noted the particular gravity of his guilt.
Police, fire and rescue services came to his apartment on the tenth floor of a high-rise building on May 11 to help a helpless person who was believed to be in the apartment.
Instead, the 57-year-old lurked behind a barricade of water tanks, poured several liters of gasoline on the emergency services and ignited the gas-air mixture. There was an explosion and a fireball hit the nine emergency services.
Eight out of nine injured with permanent damage
Several of them were in acute danger of death and eight of the nine injured will have permanent injuries. Most of them would probably not be able to return to their jobs and would suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives, said a co-plaintiff.
The defendant remained silent about the crime until the end. He also received the verdict on Wednesday without moving. A psychiatrist reported that the German had developed a penchant for conspiracy theories during the corona pandemic. He described the Covid vaccination as the “vaccine of the devil” and state institutions such as the employment office as “tools of the devil”. He also claimed that his mother’s medication was poisoned.
The man lived with his mother’s body in the apartment for weeks. The emergency services were met by a strong smell of decomposition. Because the residents of the apartment had not been seen for weeks and their mailbox was overflowing, the property management had informed the police.
The determination of the particular seriousness of the guilt legally allows release after 15 years, but in practice this is almost impossible.