déjeuner, 23 octobre 2023
A 36-year-old Swiss man from the canton of Lucerne is accused of killing his partner with 65 knife wounds in 2021. On the first day of Monday’s trial at the Lucerne Criminal Court, the accused stated that he had been attacked by his partner.
The accused described to the judges that he had been unconscious during a large part of the crime. He was also physically very weak – both due to a Long Covid disease. He only remembers the argument with his partner on the morning of the crime.
She had not been able to accept that he could not go on the joint trip to Honduras to visit her parents because of his illness. During the argument, his partner became aggressive and hit him in the face.
When he turned his back on her after the blow, he heard a metallic noise. His partner had reached for the butterfly knife in the drawer and was about to stab him when he managed to turn her body away from him, he said.
He made an attempt to flee the apartment, he said, but his partner overtook him, cut him off and locked the front door. After that, he said, he could not remember anything.
Only later did he regain consciousness lying on the kitchen floor. His partner was lying next to him. He could see how her arm with the knife in her hand was stretched towards the ceiling and then came down on her own body.
Confronted by the judges with the more than 60 knife wounds, the defendant brought up his lack of memory. He was also unable to explain the knife wounds to his hands and arms, which indicated that the victim was defensive.
10 to 30 knife wounds had already been inflicted on the victim in the bedroom after the quarrel broke out. How it had been possible for the victim with the injuries to still overtake the defendant as he fled to the front door and to lock the door, the judge wanted to know.
The defendant argued that he had suffered from severe weakness and loss of energy due to Long Covid disease. In addition, his partner had been very athletic.
In a civil lawsuit, the three children of the victim are demanding satisfaction of 70,000 Swiss francs per child and damages of around 10,000 Swiss francs.
When asked by the judge what his position was on this claim, the defendant replied that he was infinitely sorry for what had happened. He had grown very fond of the children. He also wanted to support them emotionally. However, this was on a voluntary basis and not within the framework of the civil action. He was not to be blamed or held responsible for the crime.
©Keystone/SDA
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