31 years ago, a man hit the cashier with a hammer in a Bochum arcade. Now the only suspect has been acquitted.
Bochum – A good three decades after an attempted robbery and murder in a Bochum arcade, the only suspect has been acquitted.
The 56-year-old was accused of hitting the cashier on the head with a hammer on February 27, 1991, causing life-threatening injuries. The loot is said to have amounted to over 4,000 Deutschmarks. The main indication of the perpetrator of the accused was a fingerprint on the door of the arcade. According to the verdict of the Bochum jury, this lead was not sufficient for a conviction.
Clear reasoning
“The fingerprint was not reliable enough to be convinced that the accused was the perpetrator,” said judge Josef Große Feldhaus in the verdict.
The accused was arrested in Bremerhaven last November. He had worked on a cruise ship that had just pulled into port. He had remained silent on the allegations during the trial.
The arcade supervisor had suffered serious head injuries. According to prosecutors, she suffered from anxiety and depression until her death in 2012.
Prosecutors had requested four and a half years in prison for attempted murder. The verdict is not yet legally binding. dpa
