Long prison sentence demanded in Interlaken murder trial
Published: Monday, Feb 19th 2024, 19:10
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Acquittal or long prison sentence: the motions of the public prosecutor and the defense in the High Court trial concerning a murder in Interlaken diverged widely on Monday.
On Monday, a 37-year-old former professional boxer sat straight as a die and tense before the criminal chamber of the High Court in Bern. The petite but strong woman is alleged to have cruelly murdered her husband with a baseball bat in Interlaken in October 2020.
At first instance, she was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment. As in the first instance, it was all or nothing on Monday - acquittal or a long sentence.
Circumstantial evidence
The accused herself denies involvement in the crime to this day. After a long, nerve-wracking day, even in her final statement to the High Court, she insisted that she had not killed her husband.
As in the first instance, the High Court had to deal with a circumstantial case. The decisive question was therefore: did the evidence leave no doubt as to the woman's culpability?
No solid evidence
This was clearly the case, argued the defense lawyer. As in the first instance, he insisted that another perpetrator could not be ruled out. The police had found an open balcony door in the victim's apartment. It could therefore not be ruled out that someone had entered the apartment via the balcony.
His client had had problems with her right shoulder and elbow at the time of the crime and could not have struck to such an extent, was another argument put forward by the defense lawyer. Blood splashes that were found on the woman's shoes could also have been on the shoes the day after the crime. This was when the woman found her husband in his apartment covered in blood.
The defense lawyer demanded an acquittal for his client. The woman should be compensated 200 francs per day for her imprisonment, which has now lasted more than three years.
A picture beyond doubt
The public prosecutor, on the other hand, saw the circumstantial evidence as a clear picture. This only allowed the conclusion that the defendant had killed her husband because he had turned away from her. The proud, dominant woman had not overcome this.
The offended woman had a key to her husband's apartment and had broken in, waited for him and then attacked him with a baseball bat. She opened the balcony door to pretend that a third party had broken in.
She was also the first to arrive at the crime scene the day after the crime, nota bene together with her young son. She had not spared him from the terrible sight in the apartment, but had stayed in the apartment with him and thus contaminated traces.
The public prosecutor's office demanded a harsher sentence. Instead of 16 years, the woman should serve 18.5 years behind bars. She should also be banned from the country for 14 years.
Negotiation briefly interrupted
On Monday morning, the Criminal Chamber of the High Court questioned the woman again in detail. Certain contradictions emerged in the defendant's testimony.
The woman would sometimes talk herself into a rage, then cry again. At one point, the hearing had to be interrupted so that she could be looked after. The High Court will announce its verdict on Friday morning.
©Keystone/SDA
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