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CRIME

Man jailed for burning mother of his unborn child alive

A man and his friend were found guilty in Berlin on Tuesday of burning the mother of his unborn child to death.

Published: 19 February 2016 16:28 CET
Man jailed for burning mother of his unborn child alive
A memorial at the site where Maria's body was found. Photo: DPA

The two 20-year-olds have each been handed a 14-year sentence for their crimes, as both planned and executed the horrific crime against the 19-year-old Maria and her unborn child.

Prosecutors had demanded the maximum 15-year sentence from the youth court.

Speaking of the father of the unborn child, judge Regina Alex said, “for him the crime was a solution, he wanted a free, happy life which he had control over.”

He abused Maria’s love for him to lure her into an ambush, the judge said.

The second convicted man was a former classmate of the father-to-be and had several previous convictions.

He acted “for the sole purpose of taking pleasure in the destruction of another human being’s life,” the judge said.

Speaking after the trial, Maria’s brother said “I hope that our family can finally have some peace.”

Maria was eight months pregnant and was looking forward to becoming a mother, broadcaster N24 reports.

But, according to the judge, the father of the unborn child lured her into a forest on the outskirts of the capital on January 22nd 2015, after saying he wanted to go shopping for baby clothes.

First he injured her with a bread knife then poured gasoline over her and set her alight, Judge Alex said.

“She was still conscious, it could have been 10, 20, 30 seconds .- she was still moving,” the judge added.

Hours after the crime the two men accused one another of responsibility. Both stayed silent during the trial.

CRIME

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

A 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy.

Published: 5 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement.

Matthias Ecke, 41, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to police.

Ecke was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy.

“We must never accept such acts of violence,” he said.

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s European election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police said a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been “punched” and “kicked” earlier in the evening on the same Dresden street.

Last week two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and another was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators in her car in the east of the country.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

A group of activists against the far right has called for demonstrations against the attack on Ecke in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday, Der Spiegel magazine said.

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is planning to call a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.

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