Attacked in a cave
German family murderer sentenced to life imprisonment in Spain
The man had attacked his family in a cave on the Spanish Atlantic island of Tenerife (symbol image)
© Sergey Kohl / Picture Alliance
A German and her ten-year-old son were killed in Tenerife in 2019. The seven-year-old brother just managed to escape. Now a court in Spain has sentenced the father to life imprisonment.
A German from Saxony-Anhalt has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Spain for the murder of his wife and one of his two sons. The judge in Santa Cruz de Tenerife imposed this sentence for the murder of the ten-year-old boy at the time of the crime in April 2019, the Canary Islands judiciary announced on Thursday. The 46-year-old was also sentenced to 23 years for the murder of his wife and a further 16 years for the attempted murder of his second son, who was seven at the time.
The lawyers of the German had told the German Press Agency before the sentence was announced that an appeal would be lodged in any case. The man who attacked his family in a cave on the Atlantic island was found guilty by a jury on February 4.
Life sentence in Spain can be reviewed after 25 years at the earliest
The verdict of the jury was unanimous. They came to the conclusion that on April 23, 2019, the accused killed his wife, who lived separately from him in Halle, and their then ten-year-old son with a heavy stone during a hike in front of and in a cave in the south of the holiday island, he said Speaker of the jury. In addition, he accepted the death of his then seven-year-old younger brother, who was able to flee just in time, in the wilderness. The crimes were particularly cruel, committed against family members and with malice, and the murder characteristics under Spanish law were therefore given.
The man’s lawyers had tried to prove at the trial that he was not of sound mind at the time of the crime. The life sentence in Spain can be reviewed after 25 years at the earliest.