judgements
Life sentence for 79-year-old for murdering wife
The defendant is pushed into the courtroom in a wheelchair. photo
© Philipp Schulze/dpa
A 79-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for smothering his wife with a pillow while she slept. As a result, he probably won’t leave prison alive, he says.
A 79-year-old from Lachendorf in Lower Saxony has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his sick wife. “Your wife didn’t want to die. We have no understanding of what happened there,” said presiding judge Franz Kompisch in the verdict on Wednesday in the Lüneburg district court.
The one year younger partner was ill for six days. The accused could not deal with it “for selfish reasons”, the judge described the situation. The senior took a pillow and pressed it on the sleeping woman’s face on December 12 last year. “You took her breath away for 15 minutes,” said Kompisch. The man then called 911 and was arrested without resistance. He claimed to have relieved his wife of her pain. She was completely changed after a stroke in 2020.
made a confession
On the first day of the trial last week, a friend of the wife reported that the husband had been choleric and had regularly insulted his wife. The 78-year-old did not want to die. The family doctor had attested to the accused’s elevated liver values, which were probably caused by too much alcohol. The wife also reported to him that her husband often gets loud.
The public prosecutor had requested life imprisonment for the German, the defense attorney demanded seven years in prison. “I will not leave prison alive, that’s perfectly clear to me,” said the accused. The verdict became final in the courtroom.
“I accept it,” said the senior, who confessed at the start of the trial. He was wheeled into the courtroom.