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German suspected of Swedish child murders deemed fit for jail

Christine Schürrer, the German woman suspected of murdering two children in Arboga this March, was given a clean bill of health when the results of a psychiatric evaluation were released on Thursday morning.

Published: 25 September 2008 12:21 CEST

German suspected of Swedish child murders deemed fit for jail

Schürrer is led away by a guard in court. Photo: DPA

The results mean Västmanland district court is now authorized to give Schürrer a prison sentence.

The court ordered Schürrer to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after the conclusion of her trial in late August, an indication that the court found her guilty as charged.

In its decision, Västmanland District Court wrote that “overwhelming evidence has been produced” to show that the woman “is guilty of murder and attempted murder in accordance with the charges”.

The decision was unanimous, with chairman of the court Per Kjellson and a three member panel of judges all in agreement that Schürrer on March 17th bludgeoned to death a nearly four-year-old boy and his almost two-year-old sister, and attempted to kill their 23-year-old mother, Emma Jangestig.

TT/The Local

German prosecutors drop investigation into 'unforeseeable' flood disaster

The public prosecutor’s office in Koblenz has closed the investigation into the deadly flood disaster in the Ahr valley that occurred in the summer of 2021.

A sufficient suspicion against the former Ahr district administrator Jürgen Pföhler (CDU) and an employee from the crisis team has not arisen, announced the head of the public prosecutor’s office in Koblenz, Mario Mannweiler, on Thursday.

Following the flood disaster in the Ahr region in Rhineland-Palatinate – in which 136 people died in Germany and thousands of homes were destroyed – there were accusations that the district of Ahrweiler, with Pföhler at the helm, had acted too late in sending flood warnings.

An investigation on suspicion of negligent homicide in 135 cases began in August of 2021. Pföhler had always denied the allegations.

READ ALSO: UPDATE – German prosecutors consider manslaughter probe into deadly floods

The public prosecutor’s office came to the conclusion that it was an extraordinary natural disaster: “The 2021 flood far exceeded anything people had experienced before and was subjectively unimaginable for residents, those affected, emergency services and those responsible for operations alike,” the authority said.

Civil protections in the district of Ahrweiler, including its disaster warning system, were found to be insufficient.

READ ALSO: Germany knew its disaster warning system wasn’t good enough – why wasn’t it improved?

But from the point of view of the public prosecutor’s office, these “quite considerable deficiencies”, which were identified by an expert, did not constitute criminal liability.

Why did the case take so long?

The investigations had dragged on partly because they were marked by considerable challenges, said the head of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Criminal Police Office, Mario Germano. “Namely, to conduct investigations in an area marked by the natural disaster and partially destroyed. Some of the people we had to interrogate were severely traumatised.”

More than 300 witnesses were heard including firefighters, city workers and those affected by the flood. More than 20 terabytes of digital data had been secured and evaluated, and more than 300 gigabytes were deemed relevant to the proceedings.

Pföhler, who stopped working as the district administrator in August 2021 due to illness, stepped down from the role in October 2021 citing an incapacity for duty.

The conclusion of the investigation had been postponed several times, in part because the public prosecutor’s office wanted to wait for the outcome of the investigative committee in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament.

READ ALSO: Volunteer army rebuilds Germany’s flood-stricken towns

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