Police murder trial
“I was afraid that I wouldn’t survive the night”: co-defendant describes Tatnacht von Kusel
The man accused of the police murders in Kusel has testified that he cannot handle a weapon
© Uwe Anspach / dpa pool / DPA
The testimony of co-defendant Florian V. was eagerly awaited in the trial of the Kusel police murders. Now he has essentially repeated what he has already told the police. But the main defendant accuses him of lying.
In the trial of the fatal shots at two police officers near Kusel in the Palatinate, the co-defendant Florian V. answered questions from the court about the night of the crime at the end of January for the first time.
V. said that after the first shot at the police checkpoint, he took a step forward to see what had happened. He then took cover in the embankment. He described how he had “abnormal fear” for his own life after the main defendant shot the officers. “I was afraid that I would not survive the night,” he said on Monday before the Kaiserslautern district court. “Anyone who shoots two people so carelessly also kills a third,” he said of the main defendant, Andreas S.
Co-defendant describes police murders in Kusel
His throat was constricted, his heart was racing. It took a long time before he could think clearly again. “I didn’t know how to react,” said the 33-year-old, who is charged with attempted distribution of punishment. He saw the policewoman go down on her stomach and the dead policeman. “It was disgusting and bad for me. The empty look. Everything so swollen.”
Then he “turned his head off” and followed the 39-year-old’s instructions. “Even on the way home, I was still afraid that something would happen.” The main accused is said to have murdered a policewoman, 24, and her colleague, 29, during a night traffic check on a county road with shots in the head to cover up poaching.
Co-accused should collect game
The co-defendant said that he himself had never fired a sharp weapon in his life. He also doesn’t know how to reload a gun. He has known the 39-year-old since mid-2021. They have been hunting together several times a week since last October. His job was to collect the game shot by the main defendant.
The 33-year-old testified to the police shortly after his arrest, but has so far remained silent during the trial. Now he testified that he had not given the name of the main defendant in the first interrogation for fear of him. The answers to previously submitted questions from the presiding judge had been eagerly awaited.
Florian V blames Andreas S
In his testimony after the arrest, the co-defendant had already blamed his accomplice at the time for the deaths of the two police officers. The 39-year-old, on the other hand, only wants to have killed the police officer in self-defense; the 33-year-old was responsible for the death of the police officer, he had repeatedly testified in the process.
S. took notes while his co-defendant was testifying and then, in a statement he read himself, accused V. of having lied at least 195 times during his interrogations. His statements contradict each other. The 39-year-old explained, for example, that V. had described the course of the crime differently in different interrogations.
Andreas S. holds co-defendant lying
The statement that he had never held a gun in his hand was also wrong because traces of V. had been discovered on a gun. In addition, the number of shots he perceived and the number of shots actually fired did not match. V. lied more often, but this could not be proven, S. continued.
S. is considered the main defendant in the process. He is said to have shot the police officer on January 31 at a traffic stop out of greed to cover up poaching. The indictment accuses him of two completed murders, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.
V. is accused of joint commercial poaching on the night of the crime and attempted evasion of criminal prosecution. An original suspicion of murder against V. was not substantiated, the charge against him was dropped.