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Pensioner gets life in prison for killing neighbours

A German pensioner was on Thursday sentenced to life in prison for killing three neighbours in a garden allotment after a dispute over garbage and trespassing, a court said.

The regional court in the northern city of Hildesheim found 66-year-old Wilfried Reinecke guilty of beating to death the 33-year-old son of his neighbours on their parcel of land with a wooden club last September.

The white-haired Reinecke then turned the weapon on the man’s parents, aged 59 and 64, when they tried to intervene, the court found.

The explosion of violence marked the culmination of a long-running dispute with his neighbours in the town of Gifhorn.

Witnesses told the court that Reinecke had been locked in a feud with nearly all the other tenants for eight years because of trespassing on a path, half of which belonged to the defendant.

The dispute escalated to the point that the two sides began dumping garbage on each others’ allotments.

Witnesses testified that Reinecke had one day shouted: “Someday I’m going to lose it and kill you all!”

Presiding judge Ulrich Pohl dismissed defence attorneys’ arguments that Reinecke was psychologically disturbed, saying he was like “hundreds of thousands of other older men over 60 who pick fights for no good reason.”

Pohl said Reinecke had shown “not the slightest sense of remorse” for his actions and had actively lain “in wait” for his 33-year-old victim, gravely wounding him with the club and then killing him with four blows to the back of his head.

Reinecke had told the court he acted in self-defence.

He will not be eligible for parole in 15 years as is customary under German law, a sentence that matched the demands of the prosecution and two other sons of the dead couple.

Reinecke’s lawyers said they would appeal the sentence.

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BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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