As far as the word “lies” is concerned, the German language knows some figurative idioms. The blue of the sky lies about, or lies that bend the beams. Whereby that with the bars fits quite well with the topic that is being negotiated at the Munich district court: Among other things, Andreas S. is accused there because, as the owner of the Uhrmacherhäusl, he is said to have coldly rented residents and later given the order to have the listed building tear down. On the third day of the trial, workers from the construction industry testified, some of S.’s employees, and judge Martin Schellhase had to remind witnesses several times that making false statements in court can also be punished with imprisonment.
Norbert R. for example. The pipeline builder made it clear to the court in a brash tone that he had little time, and even when testifying on the witness stand he showed little willingness to answer questions. Judge Schellhase reads to him what he had previously told the police. For example, that Andreas S. “didn’t let every one of his workers into the watchmaker’s house”. And that he, Norbert R., didn’t want to work there. “I didn’t gsogt,” explains the Lower Bavarian. The recorded statement that R. had heard “that it was said to have been a Turk who had been commissioned by S. to demolish the house for money” did not come from his mouth either.
“So the police officer who conducted the interrogation is foisting something on you?” Martin Schellhase asks. Now R. says that he “didn’t say it like that”. And besides, he hadn’t seen or heard anything anyway. And anyway, under the protocol it wasn’t his signature at all. “I have taught you about false statements,” begins Schellhase again. In the end, R. backtracked a bit and explained that he had heard about the demolition and the Turk “from colleagues or from the newspaper.” And that he told the police the truth after all.
A sewage engineer can’t remember anything
Schellhase also reads from R.’s statement that Andreas S. also started demolishing a house on Fraunhoferstrasse when tenants were still living there. At the time, R. was instructed to remove a water filter so that one of the tenants ran out of water. The filter had a hairline crack, says R. today. “Did it really exist?” asks the judge. R. dodges, and then says again: “Woass I ned.” Schellhase accuses him of saying to the police that the crack didn’t even exist and that the filter was new. R. is also quoted as saying: “When it comes to money, S. doesn’t know anything.”
Even with waste water technician Thomas K., who has been employed at Andreas S.’s company since 2008, the survey does not get any easier. In general, he can’t remember anything at all and reacts snotty to questions. Sebastian O., a former employee of Andreas S., had heavily incriminated his ex-boss on the second day of the trial and testified that when he bought the watchmaker’s house it was already clear that it should be demolished. And that everyone in the company knew about it.
Judge Schellhase asked whether he had spoken to colleagues about the subject before the court date. Thomas K. said no. However, one of his colleagues had previously told otherwise on the witness stand. Then it comes up that Thomas K. had debts to his boss. “He has it in his hands,” said an employee.
Tedious search for truth: the trial of the demolition of the watchmaker’s house.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Cüneyt C. is also accused. He managed a small construction company in the summer of 2017, and he is said to have destroyed the listed house within minutes with an excavator on behalf of Andreas S. on September 1, 2017. C. announced that he was in a mental state of emergency. The day before the demolition, his employee had already turned up on Obere Grasstraße with an excavator and hit the facade with his shovel. The construction sites had been mixed up, the excavator and the workers should have been in Neuenstein, Cuneyt C. admitted.
One of the workers is now saying in court that he has been working on the construction site in Munich for a long time and that he had a specific order to pack glass wool into sacks there. No mention of Neuenstein. When his colleague hit the facade with the excavator, he called Cüneyt C. He told him: “Stay outside and don’t go in.” According to Sebastian O., the walls and roof beams were sawn before the incident with the excavator so that the house collapsed more quickly.
On the day of the demolition, according to the next witness, Sami H., he visited his friend Cüneyt C. at the construction site on Obere Grasstraße. On the occasion of the Muslim sugar festival, they went for coffee. C. behaved quite normally. As it started to rain, C. asked him to come to the construction site to pull a tarpaulin over the gap in the roof. Then C. said he wanted to put the excavator straight. C. got a call, got into the excavator, “and then it happened”.
He didn’t intervene, that seemed too dangerous to him. He also told the people who ran excitedly to the construction site not to do anything. Cüneyt C. was suddenly “weird, nervous and stressed,” Sami H. told the police. He doesn’t want to confirm that in court. He was standing way too far away and only concluded that because C. got into the excavator. After a few minutes, “the house was down”, C. got out of the excavator and walked away without a word.
At the hearing, Andreas S.’s defense attorneys explained that the incriminating statement made by Sebastian O. on the previous day of the hearing was “incorrect and not credible at key points”. They suspect that Sebastian O., whom the employee calls “S.’s right hand.” had titled, should have been instructed during his police interrogation as a suspect. “He probably wouldn’t have said anything then.” The lawyers suspect that proceedings against O. for aiding and abetting had been discontinued “so that he could be available as a witness for the main hearing”. The process will continue at the end of May.