After the trial in Trier in 2020, the accused was sentenced to life imprisonment. The perpetrator with paranoid schizophrenia is placed in a closed psychiatric ward.
Trier – In the trial surrounding the rampage in Trier that left five dead, the accused was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday (August 16). The regional court also found that the guilt was particularly serious and ordered the man to be placed in a closed psychiatric ward. The court saw it as proven that the 52-year-old raced through the Trier pedestrian zone in his SUV on December 1, 2020 in order to kill or injure as many people as possible.
Five people died in the act: a nine-week-old baby, his father (45) and three women aged 73, 52 and 25. There were also numerous injuries and around 300 traumatized eyewitnesses. The public prosecutor had accused the German of five murders and attempted murder in 18 other cases as well as serious bodily harm. The jury chamber of the court followed the demands of the prosecutor in the verdict. The defense was for hospitalization.
Amok driver in Trier: paranoid schizophrenia with delusions
According to the opinion of a psychiatric expert, the 52-year-old suffers from paranoid schizophrenia with bizarre delusions. He is therefore less culpable and is considered dangerous to the public. The accused sees himself as a victim of “a large-scale conspiracy by the state” against him and feels persecuted, bugged and observed, the expert reported. The amok driver does not want to have any memory of the crime period.
The trained electrician remained silent about the allegations throughout the process. According to the indictment, at the time of the crime he was single, unemployed, without a permanent address and frustrated by his personal circumstances. The bereaved and those affected are relieved that the process is coming to an end after a year, said Bernd Steinmetz for the Disaster Aftercare Foundation of the German Press Agency. “It has been a burden for a long time now.” The process was “a milestone for processing”. (at/dpa)
