More than 180 witnesses were questioned in the process of the car attack on a carnival parade in the Hessian town of Volkmarsen. Now the verdict is announced – the accused persistently remains silent.
Kassel – The district court of Kassel wants to announce its verdict in the process surrounding the car attack on the Rose Monday procession in Volkmarsen in the northern Hessian district of Waldeck-Frankenberg.
The 6th criminal division has been negotiating since May against a 31-year-old who is said to have deliberately driven a car into a crowd on February 24, 2020. According to the indictment, he injured at least 88 people, including 26 children, some seriously.
182 witnesses, 24 days of trial
The man has to answer for 88 times attempted murder as well as 89 times dangerous bodily harm and because of the dangerous interference in road traffic. 182 witnesses were heard on 24 days of the hearing – the court had waived the summons of around 200 other witnesses named by the prosecution. The victims described the perpetrator’s rampage, their injuries, some of them severe, and the psychological consequences that often persist to this day.
The defendant, on the other hand, remained silent and watched the trial with a blank expression. Why he could have committed the act remained completely unclear. He had also declined to talk to a psychiatric expert.
Signs of a personality disorder
Based on files, testimonies and her own observations, the specialist in neurology and psychiatry came to the conclusion that the defendant showed signs of a personality disorder with narcissistic, paranoid and schizoid features. The 31-year-old is however fully guilty and capable of insight. She also did not rule out repeating such a serious act and advised them to be held in preventive detention after the sentence had been served.
In their pleadings, the public prosecutor’s office and co-plaintiff’s representatives demanded a life sentence with the reservation of subsequent preventive detention. At the end of the detention period, the danger posed by the perpetrator is examined in a further main hearing. In addition, the particular gravity of the guilt should be determined. The defense pleaded for a milder sentence than the required maximum penalty, since it was attempted and incomplete murder. dpa
