Even Alban H’s mother had warned his new partner about her son. “He’s not good,” she said. But that, according to Galina M. (Name changed), I didn’t want to believe her. In the summer of 2019, she met H. in a park, took him in and entered into a relationship with him. In the course of this there were repeated disputes. Alban H. beat, insulted and threatened Galina M. with death.
Despite everything, she stuck by him. She only finally ended the relationship in May 2020. Alban H., however, was not prepared to accept this. Rather, he became enraged and continued to stalk the 43-year-old. He ignored a police and family court ban on contact. On March 14, 2021, he stabbed Galina M. 15 times with a knife on Bunzlauer Strasse in Moosach. She barely survived.
For the crime, the 1st Criminal Chamber at Munich Regional Court I sentenced Alban H. to life imprisonment for attempted murder. It was already the second trial surrounding the knife attack committed by H. Another jury at the Munich I Regional Court sentenced him to 14 years in prison in February last year. Not enough for the public prosecutor. She appealed. The Federal Court of Justice then ordered that the amount of the sentence imposed be reviewed and H’s motive for the knife attack on Galina M. be clarified.
Judge Elisabeth Ehrl found clear words about this in her reasons for the judgment on Thursday. Alban H., whom the chairwoman described as “querulatory, narcissistic and smart as a farmer”, made the decision to punish and kill his partner. The 41-year-old was angry and upset that Galina M. didn’t want to resume the relationship with him. This contradicted his “self-image”. H’s “formative motive” for the knife attack was his “absolute claim to ownership” of the 43-year-old. The defendant therefore also fulfilled the murder criterion of base motives, the presiding judge stated.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Ehrl said to Alban H. that the proceedings could have gone completely differently, for example if he had apologized to his victim and shown remorse. Ehrl told Alban H. he could think about that in the next few years. The 41-year-old still claims that Galina M. was “convinced” by others that he had attacked her with a knife.