Murder trial in Solothurn: life imprisonment or 13 years demanded
Published: Tuesday, Apr 9th 2024, 17:10
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The district court of Bucheggberg-Wasseramt in Solothurn heard the case of the killing of two children by their mother on Tuesday. The prosecution demanded life imprisonment for murder, the defense lawyer pleaded for 13 years for intentional homicide. The verdict will be opened on Friday.
The crime took place on January 16, 2021 in Gerlafingen SO, where the Swiss woman lived with her 7- and 8-year-old daughters and their 12-year-old half-sister from a previous relationship. She had separated from the younger girl's father a few months earlier.
On that Saturday morning, she went to the two children's rooms one after the other, where they were lying in their beds. She stabbed each of them in the heart with a large kitchen knife.
She then put the kitchen knife in a bag, went into her eldest daughter's room and told her that the two little ones were no longer alive. Then she called the police.
Controversial why
As clear as the outward course of the crime was, the why was controversial. For the public prosecutor, the woman acted out of revenge against her then husband. She had wanted to "inflict the greatest possible damage" on him by killing his daughters. This motive was particularly reprehensible.
He had wanted the divorce and had apparently coped well with life after the separation. The woman had felt set back and was envious. She had been planning the crime since the day before. The fact that she believed the children were in danger with their father contradicted her own suggestion to leave them with him for one more day.
The prosecutor justified the fact that she did not attack her eldest daughter, who was 12 at the time, by saying that she had a different father: Her death would not have affected her husband to the same extent.
Faults as a cause
The defense lawyer took a completely different view. He focused on his client's personality disorders, which had been established by experts, as the cause of the crimes. These were not to be understood as revenge on the husband, as the prosecution claimed.
Originally, his client had wanted to kill herself, but had not wanted to leave the girls alone. Due to her disorders, she had "subjectively and from the outside incomprehensibly" seen the younger daughters in danger with their father. She had made corresponding statements to the authorities. This earned her a charge of defamation.
The defense lawyer recapitulated the life of the accused, starting with her early childhood years in South America, first as a street child and later in an orphanage. When she was eight years old, she was adopted by a Swiss couple. This had come quite suddenly for her and she had not been prepared.
According to his client, her youth in Switzerland had not been happy. Her mother had been strict and she had remained an outsider at school. Her father, with whom she still has a good relationship, was often absent.
After the crime, the entire family on her mother's side broke off contact, the accused said in her interrogation. She often spoke to her father on the phone and he also came to visit her. The eldest daughter also came to visit once.
Outpatient therapy recommended
The psychiatric expert had diagnosed the woman with borderline syndrome and histrionic disorder. This manifests itself, among other things, in a strong egocentricity and a pronounced striving for attention. The expert recommended outpatient treatment during the sentence. This is supported by the prosecution and defense.
The public prosecutor wants the 41-year-old to be sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple murders and defamation. The defense attorney considers 13 years to be appropriate in view of his client's mental state. This is not murder, which requires, among other things, particular ruthlessness, but intentional homicide.
"Taking responsibility"
In her closing statement, the defendant apologized and said how sorry she was for everything. She was in court "to take responsibility".
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