process
Life sentence for murder by poison
The defendants in the Bielefeld regional court next to their lawyers Sven Karsten and Jan-Christian Hochmann (back). photo
© Friso Gentsch/dpa
Because she and her former lover used poison to get rid of her husband, they both have to go to prison for life. The court in Bielefeld based its verdict on treacherous murder.
A 51-year-old and her former lover have been sentenced to life in prison for joint murder because of a fatal poison cocktail for their husband. The regional court Bielefeld saw it as proven that the two wanted the defendant’s husband dead, it was said when the verdict was announced.
The 46-year-old defendant from Hamburg had obtained the poison – a mixture of prescription medications – and brought it to the defendant in Bielefeld on April 30, 2022. On the same day, the defendant tricked her husband into doing it: while he was sleeping, she put the poison in a water glass at his bedside, which he later drank from. In his verdict, the presiding judge spoke of a classic case of treacherous murder.
The mother of three admitted in court that she had given the 39-year-old the poison. However, she claimed to have believed that the drugs were merely anesthetic and not fatal. The judges considered this to be a protective claim.
Video call as evidence
There is also an important piece of evidence in the trial that speaks against this: there is a thirteen-minute video call that the two had while the husband was dying. The judges were convinced that the defendants wanted to agree during the conversation not to call the emergency services too early in order to rule out successful resuscitation.
The two defendants began a relationship in 2021 while the future victim was in prison. After about nine months they both separated again. However, an affair followed that was marked by arguments and breaks in the relationship. The defendant later chose her husband first, after which the 46-year-old began terrorizing the entire family. The judges said he repeatedly threatened his husband with death. The court was unable to clarify who was the driving force behind the poisoning.
Widow’s confession
Initially there was no evidence of a homicide in the case. They only came to light at the beginning of 2023. At that time, the widow appeared at the police to make a confession. The man’s body was then examined again and poison was determined to be the cause of death. A few weeks later, the police also arrested the then lover in Hamburg.
He had remained silent during the trial. Until the very end, his defense lawyers had relied on the fact that his guilt would not be proven. The verdict is not yet legally binding.