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CRIME

German cleared of ‘bathtub murder’ after 13 years in jail

A German court on Friday exonerated a former custodian who had spent more than 13 years in prison for the suspected murder of an elderly woman found in a bathtub.

Manfred Genditzki leaves the court in Munich with his wife Maria after the announcement of the verdict in the retrial of the so-called bathtub murder case.
Manfred Genditzki leaves the court in Munich with his wife Maria after the announcement of the verdict in the retrial of the so-called bathtub murder case. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Karl-Josef Hildenbrand

Manfred Genditzki had been handed a life sentence for allegedly killing an 87-year-old tenant of the building where he worked in 2008 by striking her on the head during a dispute and then drowning her.

Genditzki had consistently denied murdering the woman during a lengthy legal battle.

In a judicial scandal that made national headlines, the judges of the regional court in Munich ruled that Genditzki had been wrongly convicted and ordered compensation of nearly 369,000 euros ($402,000).

“It was not a murder, he is acquitted and thus innocent,” a court spokesman said, referring to new evidence suggesting the death was accidental.

Local media reported that Genditzki sat impassively as the verdict was read out while many of his supporters wept openly in the courtroom.

Genditzki, now 63, who had worked in a large residential complex in the southern town of Rottach-Egern, had already successfully contested his conviction before a federal tribunal but was found guilty again by a Munich court in 2012.

‘A tragedy’

In a third trial based on advances in forensic science, his defence attorney Regina Rick was able to bring in new evidence showing that the water temperature in the tub where the woman was found pointed to a far different time of death than initially presumed.

A second scientific report presented to the court used a computer simulation to demonstrate that her death was likely the result of an accident.

Rick won her client’s preliminary release last August on the basis of that evidence, given the mounting doubts about his guilt and Genditzki’s previously clean criminal record.

After more than 13 years in custody, he returned to his family and began working as a driver at a cheese factory while the regional court granted him a new trial.

Friday’s acquittal, which even the prosecution ultimately advocated, “came on the basis of expert reports using the most modern methods which were not available at the time of the previous convictions”, the court spokesman said.

After spending 4,915 days wrongly imprisoned in which he missed taking part in raising his children or witnessing the birth of his grandchildren, Genditzki is now exonerated, he said.

“This is a tragedy that can hardly be put into words,” he added.

The court ordered Genditzki to be paid €75 for every day he spent in jail, amounting to just over €368,000. He may also be able to claim additional damages for lost income.

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ANTI-SEMITISM

Germany sees sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts

Anti-Semitic acts rose sharply in Germany last year, especially after war broke out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in October, according to new figures released on Tuesday.

Germany sees sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts

The Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Anti-Semitism (RIAS) documented 4,782 anti-Semitic “incidents” in 2023 – an increase of more than 80 per cent on the previous year.

More than half of the incidents – which included threats, physical attacks and vandalism – were registered after Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented October 7th attack on Israel, RIAS said.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency last week also published figures showing a new record in anti-Semitic crimes in 2023.

A total of 5,164 crimes were recorded during the year, the agency said, compared with 2,641 in 2022.

Anti-Semitic crimes with a “religious-ideological motivation” jumped to 492 from just 33 the previous year, with the vast majority committed after October 7.

Felix Klein, the government’s commissioner for the fight against anti-Semitism, said the RIAS figures were “absolutely catastrophic”.

The Hamas attack had acted as an “accelerant” for anti-Semitism in Germany, he told a press conference in Berlin.

“Jewish life in Germany is under greater threat than it has ever been since the Federal Republic of Germany was founded,” he said.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,600 people, also mostly civilians, Gaza’s health ministry said.

Islamophobic incidents also increased dramatically in Germany last year, according to a separate report published on Monday.

The CLAIM alliance against Islamophobia said it had registered 1,926 attacks on Muslims in 2023, compared with just under 900 in 2023.

These included verbal abuse, discrimination, physical violence and damage to property.

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