Prosecutor tears apart the defendant’s version of the fall
Published: Tuesday, Dec 19th 2023, 11:20
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On Tuesday, the public prosecutor demanded a guilty verdict for murder for the accused in the von Gunten homicide. She tore apart the defendant's version that the woman simply fell and was left for dead.
The accused man from Basel stated that he had met his former sexual partner in a remote location near Münchenstein BL. There, the woman suddenly fell and gave no more signs of life.
The forensic findings did not indicate that the victim had fallen. Rather, the accused had wanted to act out his sexual fantasies of violence with the victim, explained public prosecutor Daniel Küng-Häberli in her plea on Tuesday.
The woman did not participate and probably tried to flee from the lonely meeting place. This could be determined from the movements registered by the smartphone. The defendant had followed the victim and had injured her with a blunt object to the back of the head in a non-life-threatening manner.
"He wanted to see her die"
The injured woman was then an easy victim, just like the women in the violent porn films that the man had consumed. He had tied up his victim, against which the woman had resisted. He loaded the bound woman into his VW bus and drove her home.
It was probably there that he placed a cable tie around the woman's neck and pulled the front closed. "He wanted to see her die and looked into her face," the prosecutor concluded, referring to the man's violent pornographic fantasies. That must have aroused him.
Forensic findings stated that a cable tie had been placed around the woman's neck and tightened while she was still alive. The woman had been in agony and had been unspeakably tortured, the public prosecutor's office emphasized.
Defendant knew Lake Thun from kayaking
After the woman's death, the accused looked for a way to make the body disappear. He tied the woman to a building site block and threw her into Lake Thun near Gunten. A place he apparently knew from kayaking.
A psychiatric report attests to the man having a dissocial disorder and a sadistic-sexual disorder. The public prosecutor emphasized that the accused had acted with extreme cruelty and callousness. He had denied his victim any humanity. Remorse was not noticeable.
Even if not all questions in connection with the crime have been completely clarified, the prosecutor had no doubt that the evidence would lead to a guilty verdict for murder.
Daniela Küng-Häberli, the public prosecutor, also called for outpatient therapy to be ordered. This would be a last chance for the accused to face up to his problems and work on them. Should he not respond to this, the question of custody would have to be raised at a later date.
The plea of the defense will follow in the course of the morning.
©Keystone/SDA
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