Haute Cour d'Argovie : Un homme aurait assassiné un rival
Published: Thursday, May 2nd 2024, 05:00
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A 56-year-old Swiss man stands before the Aargau High Court today, Thursday. He is accused of killing a 74-year-old man in Spreitenbach AG in February 2022, whom he saw as a rival for the love of a woman.
In April 2023, the District Court of Baden sentenced the man to 15 years' imprisonment and a conditional fine for murder and a number of ancillary offenses. The court could only base its decision on circumstantial evidence. There were no witnesses and the accused claimed gaps in his memory.
The first-instance verdict was appealed to the higher court. The defense lawyer did not deny the killing, but pleaded self-defense and thus acquittal of his client. A conditional prison sentence of six months was appropriate for the secondary offenses. The public prosecutor had demanded 17 years for murder.
According to the indictment, the motive for the day was jealousy. The accused had been in love with a woman he had met as a prostitute for several years. The day before the crime, she let him know that they could not meet that evening because she was not alone. The Swiss man drove to her apartment in Spreitenbach and watched as she got into a car with a man.
Stabbed unexpectedly
The following morning, the defendant forced his way into the woman's first floor apartment. He knew that she would not be there at that time. The later victim, a 74-year-old German, was in the apartment. The accused suddenly attacked his rival with a knife he had brought with him, according to the indictment.
The forensic experts later discovered, among other things, 15 massive stab wounds. The injured man bled to death at the scene. The investigators found no signs of a struggle.
The accused himself had three less deep stab wounds. They came from the knife that the deceased was holding in his hand. According to the indictment, the Swiss man had inflicted them on himself and then placed the knife in his victim's hand.
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