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CRIME

Spurned woman shot at driving instructor

A woman was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday for shooting at her driving instructor in after he rejected her advances.

Spurned woman shot at driving instructor
Photo: DPA

The 40-year-old woman, who has not been named, fell for her driving instructor in 2010, but her love was unrequited.

Rejected, her response was to launch an armed ambush on him on June 22nd this year. Aiming at his car, which at the time held the instructor and two of his pupils, she shot at least four bullets, hitting the vehicle three times.

Nobody was injured in the attack but the mother-of-four was sentenced for two counts of attempted murder by a court in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony in central Germany on Tuesday afternoon.

The court decided that the woman had intended to murder her instructor although she told the court that she had aimed at the car’s tyres. “The defence of the accused clearly deviates from what the court has established,” Judge Peter Peschka said.

The woman pursued her instructor for months after falling in love with him. But the man, who the court described as stalking victim, was not interested. “The text messages and telephone calls he received from this woman for months sent a clear signal,” the judge said.

A psychiatrist report found that the woman had mental problems which formed part of her mitigation. Prosecutors demanded a six-and-a-half year prison sentence while her defence counsel asked for three years.

READ MORE: Berlin man ‘burns girlfriend to death’

DPA/The Local/tsb

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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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