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Thursday 12 November 2020
After killing an insane woman
Suspended sentence to 92 years
“I couldn’t see her suffer anymore,” he said in court. The 92-year-old husband, who suffocated his dependent wife with a blanket, is now sentenced to two years probation for involuntary manslaughter. It is an extraordinary case, everyone involved is sure of that.
About a year after the murder of his seriously ill wife, the 92-year-old husband was sentenced to two years in prison. The sentence for involuntary manslaughter will be suspended, said the presiding judge of the Würzburg regional court, Hans Brückner. The sentence against the German is not yet final.
The defendant had confessed that his insane and seriously ill wife was suffocated with a blanket on November 3, 2019. The couple from Gemünden am Main in Bavaria had been married for almost 70 years and had no children. Regrets the act. He had cared for the 91-year-old almost alone at home for years and was overwhelmed. “Over the course of this attention span, I could no longer see my wife suffer and somehow I had to get rid of the dementia and all the difficulties,” he said. “I probably lost control. I couldn’t do anything else.”
At the time, the 92-year-old was severely depressed and had reduced guilt, psychiatrist Susanne Eberlein explained to the court. “He had to be there for her day and night.” Your incontinence had hit him enormously. “He saw no light at the end of the tunnel.” The impending short-term care of his wife had unsettled him, they both never wanted to go home. Because the man no longer expected a future worth living for himself and his wife, he killed her. A subsequent suicide attempt failed.
Prosecutor fights for words
- If there is a risk of suicide: 911
- Advice in crisis situations: Telephone advice (0800 / 111-0-111 or 0800 / 111-0-222 or 116-123, free call) or telephone for children and young people (Tel .: 0800 / 111-0-333 or 116-111; Mon-Sat from 2pm to 8pm)
- At Deutsche Depressionshilfe you can find regional crisis services and clinics, as well as advice for those affected and their families.
- Those affected and their families are involved in the German Depression League. There is also an email counseling service for people with depression.
- Local Points of Contact (KISS) provide an overview of depression self-help groups.
“The defendant has lovingly cared for his wife for weeks, years,” says Attorney General Thorsten Seebach. “You can show that respect. The defendant has accomplished a lot.” The attorney is clearly trying to find the right words and, above all, to file a proper criminal complaint for a man many witnesses describe as practical, caring, and self-sacrificing. “We have an unusual case in front of the camera,” says Seebach. But the special situation of the couple (they are sick, he is exhausted, they both want to die together) does not give the 92-year-old man the right to kill anyone.
“There is the right to death by self-determination, which the Federal Constitutional Court recently expressly recognized,” CSU Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich told the newspaper “Bild”. “But that means: the person who is willing to die has to make the decision for himself.” Defense attorney Norman Jacob sees it that way too. “It’s really difficult,” he says. Here the question arises in particular of the meaning and purpose of a punishment. “Any incarceration would mean life for my client.”
“It can’t end like this”
Attorney General Seebach accuses the defendant that his dwindling vitality was also his fault because he did not want to accept any help, as it might have been necessary. “It shouldn’t end like this,” even if the pensioner “acted out of affection, love, and good reasons.” Seebach finally asks for two years and nine months in prison for homicide in a minor case.
Defense attorney Jacob also believes that a homicide is taking place, but wants a prison sentence to be suspended. The Chamber finds a middle ground. “From a legal point of view, the defendant’s behavior had to be evaluated as homicide,” said Chief Justice Hans Brückner. But “to the detriment of the accused, the court could not identify any aspect of the accused’s behavior.” However, the sentence should not be understood as a license for imitators. “It sure will be an extraordinary case.”
