49-year-old man stands before Zurich High Court for killing his wife
Published: Tuesday, Oct 1st 2024, 04:50
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A 49-year-old man is due to appear before the Zurich High Court today for allegedly stabbing his wife to death. The district court wanted to send him to prison for twenty years for murder in October 2023.
The man had never made an actual confession, but had not denied the crime either. The district court therefore relied on evidence to reach its verdict. From this, "the events could be established", said the judge at the sentencing hearing.
The Turkish man, who has lived in Switzerland for more than 20 years, had been released from prison just three weeks before the crime. He was serving time there for fraud and violent offenses, among other things.
She wanted a divorce
While he was serving his sentence, his wife of 30 years met another man and filed for divorce. The accused did not agree to this.
He threatened the woman while she was still in prison, as emerged from tapped telephone conversations. He also threatened to kill her. The authorities therefore banned him from entering the apartment they shared for the time after his release.
However, this did not help: on the evening of October 13, 2021, he waited for the 30-year-old in front of the house entrance in Zurich-Altstetten and attacked her with a knife. The mother of two died on the spot.
15 years of expulsion
The district court had no doubt that the man had acted deliberately and brutally out of selfish motives. He had acted "out of anger, not out of desperation". After the 20-year prison sentence, the Turkish man will be banned from the country for 15 years, according to the ruling. It is to apply to the entire Schengen area.
The court's verdict largely followed the prosecution's motions. The public prosecutor had demanded a life sentence. The Turkish man's defense lawyer had argued for a manslaughter conviction and a maximum prison sentence of five years. He is now trying to obtain a more lenient sentence from the higher court. It remains to be seen when the verdict will be handed down.
©Keystone/SDA
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