Offenburg (dpa / lsw) – An older woman falls in love, the new boyfriend moves into her house shortly afterwards and makes herself popular with the neighbors with gifts. A few months later, the woman is dead – and her body rots for many weeks in a plastic bag in the Offenburg house. In this case, the now 66-year-old partner of the dead has had to answer to the Offenburg district court since Tuesday – for bodily harm resulting in death and computer fraud.
At the start of the trial, the accused did not comment on the prosecution’s charges. She accuses him of having struggled the 71-year-old in a dispute in August 2020, whereupon she fell and died (Ref .: 1 Ks 303 Js 17866/20). Instead of alerting rescue workers, the man put the body in a sack and concealed the woman’s death. In the following weeks, the man, who had several previous convictions for fraud, is said to have withdrawn thousands of euros with the EC card of an ex-friend of the dead. The heavily decomposed corpse was only found in the Offenburg house in October following reports from concerned neighbors.
The man portrays himself in court as a notorious fraud; his life was a constant in and out of prison. His answers to the court’s questions about the person are mumbled and barely understandable. Overall, the born Franconian looks nervous, turns to his lawyer for help and says that he does not understand questions. In March he suffered a stroke while in custody.
A completely different person seem to describe neighbors of the dead who testify about the 66-year-old today. He moved in with his new girlfriend in no time, says a neighbor. He was always giving away strawberries and other fruit to neighbors and chatting with them in a friendly way. He gave the impression that he was financially equal to the well-off woman. She described him as a perfect cook and very committed to society.
The defendant always boasted with his money and his cars, says a long-time friend of the dead. But her first impression was: Is that a bum? He had no teeth in his mouth and was uneducated. Again and again it was in discussions about the inheritance.
When the 71-year-old suddenly disappeared in the summer of 2020, her boyfriend was never at a loss for explanations, reports the neighbor: She was in the hospital and did not want a visit. She had traveled to Portugal to her ex-boyfriend to bring the dogs to Germany. She is stuck in Portugal because of Corona. The dogs are in quarantine. It was only after many weeks that they, together with other neighbors, had serious suspicions and finally called the police.
Another witness describes it like this: He sneaked into our neighborhood because of his friendly manner. She was lulled and trusted him.
The long-time acquaintance says that her friend was repeatedly plagued by mysterious attacks of fatigue in the summer: for example, she slept through the day from noon until the next morning and once she appeared to be completely confused. The medical expert also keeps asking questions about this topic.
A policeman who phoned the accused today after the neighbors took action says: he appeared very calm and didn’t get tangled up when he put forward reasons why his girlfriend couldn’t answer the phone himself. Nevertheless, it quickly became clear that something was wrong. The body was finally discovered during a house search – it was so badly decomposed that the cause of death could no longer be clearly established. Five days of negotiation are scheduled for the process. A verdict could fall on July 20th.
dpa-infocom, dpa: 210614-99-990723 / 6
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