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CRIME

Groom ‘kills bride’ ten days before wedding

A groom who allegedly strangled his wife-to-be to death ten days before they were due to get married appeared in court in Bavaria on Tuesday charged with murder.

Groom 'kills bride' ten days before wedding
Photo: DPA

The 40-year-old guest house owner from Brunn near Nuremberg went on trial on Tuesday accused of killing his 32-year-old fiancé and dumping her body in a river.

The defendant Roy E. reported his fiancé missing last June, prompting a 20-man police search. Officers found the woman's naked body in a river near Brunn five days later with strangulation marks, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.

The prosecution said the accused had been under psychological stress due to his failing business and the approaching wedding, and he allegedly took out his anger on his fiancé after he was unable to perform sexually with her on the evening of the murder.

Bild newspaper quoted state prosecutor Jutta Schmiedel as saying, "he felt under great pressure and put all the blame for his difficult situation on his fiancé. The upcoming wedding was a burden on him."

Two weeks after the killing Roy E. confessed, saying he definitely strangled her but did not remember disposing of the body, but later whilst in custody he retracted this, claiming instead that three to four "masked men" had killed her before forcing him to get rid of the corpse.

The prosecution maintains he committed the entire act, before attempting to cover it up with an intimate text message and a show of grief at the funeral, days before he confessed to the crime.

Bild reported the husband-to-be sent his dead fiancé a text message the day after she was killed saying "Hey, hello, where are you? I love you. Please come home. Tabea and I miss you." Tabea is the name of the couple's five-year-old daughter.

The defendant now claims that on the evening of her death he left his fiancé working on wedding preparations, took a sleeping pill and went to bed early.

However his DNA was found in a van and the driver said he gave the accused a lift on the night of the murder, near the area where the body was found.

If convicted he is likely to receive a life sentence.

But Roy E.'s lawyer told the Nuremberg court on the trial's first day: "My client will defend himself through silence."

SEE ALSO: Exchange student 'murderer' stays silent

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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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