Nevertheless the man will only have to spend one year and five months in jail. The rest of the time he will serve in a detoxification clinic.

The judge in the court in Limburg, Hesse, handed down the sentence demanded by the prosecution, which had changed the charge during the trial from murder to bodily harm with fatal consequences.

On the day of the incident in March of this year, the 32-year-old defendant had drunk litres of wine with his 53-year-old victim, the court heard.

When both men were heavily intoxicated, the elder man then attacked his companion, grabbing him in the genitals. The defendant reacted by repeatedly punching his victim in the face until he fell to the floor. 

The older man then choked to death on his own vomit.

But that was not the end of the incident. The defendant then took a knife to his victim, cutting off his penis.

The judge said that the defendant had castrated his victim because he wanted to leave his mark on him.

“If he had still been alive, he would have bled to death,” the judge said.

After the crime, the defendant admitted the charges, but his lawyer later withdrew the admission and pleaded for him to me pronounced innocent.