Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Jealous family murderer jailed for 17 years

A Swiss court on Monday sentenced a 58-year-old man to 17 years in prison for shooting to death his wife and daughter, whom he believed shared the same lover.

Published: 10 June 2013 22:14 CEST

The Macedonian citizen was jailed by a Schwyz cantonal court after being convicted of the two murders.

The man admitted to using a pistol to shoot his 48-year-old spouse and his 24-year-old daughter in the family home in Einsiedeln (canton of Schwyz) on May 28th 2011, although his lawyer argued that it was a “crime of passion”, the SDA news agency reported.

His daughter died in the home while his wife died in hospital from her wounds.

The convicted murderer was convinced that the two women shared the same lover, the court was told.

He armed himself and began to make “checks” around the house in a bid to seek evidence, which he never found, the prosecutor Paul Schmidig said.

The husband then threatened his wife and daughter and instigated a “reign of terror” in the house, Schmidig said, according to the SDA report.

The prosecutor said the man acted without scruples, motivated by morbid jealousy and a sick frenzy.

The man behaved in a selfish manner and did not show any emotion, said Judge Sandra Rieder, who ordered institutional therapy for the convicted man.

He was also found guilty of attempting to murder his other daughter, a fact the Macedonian denied, SDA reported.

As well, he was convicted of possessing a firearm without a permit.
 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

CRIME

‘Your permit is invalid’: Foreigners in Switzerland warned to avoid new scam

Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.

Published: 26 April 2024 11:17 CEST
Updated: 2 May 2024 15:04 CEST
'Your permit is invalid': Foreigners in Switzerland warned to avoid new scam

A number of foreign nationals, especially in the German-speaking part of the country, have received an official-looking letter, purportedly from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) informing them that the Free Movement of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”

Faced with enquiries from concerned recipients, SEM responded that the letter is fake, advising recipients to ignore it and, above all, not to click on the QR code on the top.

“Fake letters from the SEM have been circulating since the beginning of this week,” the immigration authority said on its website as well as on X (formerly Twitter).  

“The letter has no impact on the recipient’s  residence status,” SEM added.

Fake jobs, real threats

However, this is only the latest scam perpetrated in the name of SEM.

There have been others in the past.

For instance, many foreigners have also received emails from addresses swissimmigration@consultant or eu_immigration@consultant, that pretend to be the Swiss immigration authority.

“In most cases, a fictitious job in the hotel industry is offered, with the senders demanding payment of 300 to 1,000 euros for a permit in Switzerland and for health and accident insurance,” SEM reported.

The first clue that this email doesn’t come from  SEM, which is part of Switzerland’s government, is that it is asking for payment in euros. If the scammers were smarter, they’d demand Swiss francs.

“These e-mails do not come from the SEM and should be considered as an attempt at fraud,” the agency said. 

Extortion attempt

And a few years ago, a number of foreigners received emails coming allegedly from SEM, Swiss border control authorities, or even the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol).

They threatened to revoke the victim’s residence permit or even expel them from the country altogether if they didn’t pay a certain sum of money into an anonymous account.

Needless to say, no government authority would ever resort to blackmail or demand payment for such ‘services’.

So a good rule to remember (for foreigners and Swiss alike) is that if threats and pressure are involved, letters / emails / phone calls ( WhatsUp messages are more than likely scams.
 
READ ALSO: The common scams foreigners in Switzerland need to be aware of 

Don’t respond

SEM as well as police urge everyone contacted by scammers, by whatever means to:

  • Ignore these messages by hanging up the phone and / or deleting emails, moving them to the Spam folder
  • Never give out your credit card number or bank account information to people you don’t know
  • If you did give your card number, contact your credit card company immediately to have the card blocked. Likewise, if you gave out your banking details, get in touch with your bank.
  • In the event of threats of extortion attempts, consider filing a criminal complaint. You can search for police stations in your area on the Police website. 
SHOW COMMENTS