Deggendorf (dpa / lby) – In the retrial for the killing of a 20-year-old woman in autumn 2016, the pleas are to be held on Friday (9:00 a.m.) in the Deggendorf district court. The 28-year-old former friend of the victim is accused. He had stabbed his son’s mother, which he admitted in a first trial in 2017 before the Passau district court. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for manslaughter.
Because in the first trial two witnesses had testified falsely in favor of the accused – for which they were given a suspended sentence in 2019 by the Passau District Court – the trial was resumed. Since April, the 28-year-old has had to face a process a second time. The charge is murder.
Because in the first trial it remained unclear whether the man killed his girlfriend when she was already asleep – which would have corresponded to the murder characteristic of insidiousness. The two witnesses said in the first trial that the accused had not spoken to them about the crime. They later corrected this and said he reported stabbing the woman to death while she was sleeping.
Retrial proceedings are extremely rare. In Germany, no one may be prosecuted a second time for an act for which they have already been convicted or of which they have been acquitted. One of the requirements for a retrial is a verdict, possibly based on false testimony by a witness – as in this case.
