crime
Killed six-year-old Joel: Defendant partially confesses
Crosses, figures, candles and flowers stand at the spot where six-year-old Joel was found. The manslaughter trial continues. photo
© Bernd Wüstneck/dpa
There was a surprise in the trial in the case of the killed six-year-old Joel, which has been ongoing since February. The accused 15-year-old partially confessed.
In the trial of six-year-old Joel who was killed, the 15-year-old accused of manslaughter partially confessed. The regional court said that he had made a partial confession about the matter for the first time Neubrandenburg with. He is said to have beaten and stabbed Joel in the municipality of Pragsdorf in the Mecklenburg Lake District last September.
Based on the defendant’s statements, further evidence was necessary, the court said. It set three further hearing dates for April 17th and 23rd and May 2nd. The extensive taking of evidence – according to the court, around 50 witnesses have been heard since February – had already made additional appointments necessary.
Before the date, the court had actually already said that a judgment would be announced on a separate date that had yet to be determined. The day of the trial ended on Thursday afternoon without two experts – including a psychiatric expert – testifying as originally planned. The trial takes place behind closed doors.
The case
The violent death of six-year-old Joel last September caused consternation across the country. The public prosecutor’s office accuses the 14-year-old at the time of the crime of hitting Joel in the face several times and stabbing him seven times with a knife with a blade about 15 centimeters long. The boy died, which the defendant at least accepted with approval, according to the public prosecutor. According to previous information, the teenager had become entangled in contradictions, and his DNA trace was also found on the murder knife.
The brutal act is said to have taken place in the bushes at the football field in the small village in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Months later, angel figures, memorabilia and a larger cross still stood where Joel died.
There were repeated surprises during the trial, which has been ongoing since February. It became known at the beginning that the public prosecutor’s office was also investigating the defendant’s 17-year-old brother. The Neubrandenburg public prosecutor’s office said the investigation was related to the case, but did not provide any details.
In the meantime, the defendant had also been released from custody because, according to his own statement, the court saw no reason for detention. The public prosecutor’s office lodged an objection, and the Rostock Higher Regional Court overturned the decision. The lawyer for Joel’s family had clearly criticized the Neubrandenburg regional court and, in her own statement, made it clear that the trial was “very much on the verge of judicial bias.”