The mother of four had no chance of surviving when the sports car raced towards her far too quickly in her lane. The driver was dead immediately. The person who caused the accident is now on trial. He now faces a long sentence.
Augsburg – When he stepped on the gas pedal, he is said to have raved about his powerful car: “It’s on fire.” A short time later, according to the public prosecutor’s office, the car, which was now running at around 200 kilometers per hour, threw itself into oncoming traffic and crashed into the car of a 54 -year-olds.
The mother of four died within a short time at the scene of the accident. Since Tuesday, the 28-year-old suspect who caused the accident has had to answer to the Augsburg Regional Court for murder.
At the beginning of the trial, the prosecutor said that the accused driver had accepted the risk of an accident with his driving style. “He also expected that other road users could be seriously injured or even killed by the accident.” The accused has not yet commented. His defense attorney announced that he would read a statement for his client at the next hearing in October.
With the 28-year-old, his acquaintance, who is one year his senior, is also in the dock. As a passenger, he is said to have cheered on his buddy during the breakneck drive. He is charged with aiding and abetting murder. He faces a prison sentence of between 3 and 15 years. In contrast to the main accused, the co-driver is not in custody. The defense attorney for the 29-year-old announced that the co-defendant would not initially testify.
The two men, both German nationals, are said to have been on a state road near the northern Swabian city of Monheim at the beginning of April 2021, on which a maximum speed of 100 km/h is allowed. “The track is already known to the police as a racetrack,” the prosecutor explained. The 28-year-old wanted to test the acceleration and top speed of his sports car. The prosecutor said the 240 hp vehicle was able to reach speeds of up to 250 km/h.
The investigators then reconstructed the following speeds on different sections of the route. Half a kilometer before the head-on collision, the defendant is said to have raced at 185 to 204 km/h after overtaking a truck. Shortly thereafter, he crossed a hilltop just a little slower to let his car lift off the tarmac. He then apparently lost control of the vehicle and entered the oncoming lane.
When the vehicle drove diagonally into the 54-year-old’s small car, the person who caused the accident is said to have had a “collision speed of 138 to 153 km/h” on the speedometer. The woman tried to dodge and slowed down her car to 65 to 75 km / h, but still had no chance of survival. Both men suffered broken bones and were seriously injured.
Two and a half months later it became clear that it was not a normal traffic accident. The public prosecutor’s office applied for an arrest warrant against the driver on strong suspicion of murder and participation in a prohibited motor vehicle race resulting in death. The man has been in prison since June 2021.
At that time, the findings of an expert, witness statements and a video led to the reassessment of the accident. The person who caused the accident had a so-called dashcam in his car, which can be used to record traffic. The police secured a recording of the day of the crime and may play a role later in the process.
In recent years, there have been repeated murder charges after frenzy. The case of two men who fought on Berlin’s Ku’damm in 2016 in which an uninvolved pensioner died was particularly well known. Ultimately, one driver was convicted of murder and the second of attempted murder.
However, in the case of Raser murder trials, there were by no means always corresponding convictions. The question always remains whether the accused had intent to kill. Lawyer Moritz Bode, the defense attorney for the main suspect, has announced that he wants to overturn the murder charge. He also promised a written statement from the accused on the allegations. What will be in it, Bode left open on Tuesday. The statement is still being worked on, he said.
The criminal court has initially planned eight days of hearings for the trial, and the verdict could be announced at the end of October. The husband and children of the killed 54-year-old are joint plaintiffs. dpa
