Zurich court sentences man to 20 years for murder
Published: Monday, Oct 30th 2023, 18:50
Updated At: Tuesday, Oct 31st 2023, 00:54
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For killing his 30-year-old wife with ten knife wounds in Zurich-Altstetten in October 2021, a 48-year-old man must serve a 20-year prison sentence. The Zurich District Court found him guilty of murder and threat on Monday.
After serving his sentence, the Turkish national will be expelled from the country for 15 years, which is valid for the entire Schengen area. He will have to pay the two children of primary school age that they have together a compensation of 70,000 Swiss francs each. In addition, he must pay for the follow-up costs of the crime, such as therapy. The court awarded the victim's parents CHF 10,000 each in compensation.
The judgment is not yet final. It can be appealed to the Higher Court of the Canton of Zurich. The defense attorney for the Turk had pleaded for a conviction for manslaughter and a maximum prison sentence of five years. If the crime qualified as murder, a maximum of 15 years would be appropriate. The prosecutor had demanded life imprisonment.
"He didn't want to let her go"
The man had been released from prison just three weeks before the crime. He had served a partial prison sentence for violence, fraud and other offenses. The woman filed for divorce and turned to another man.
While still in custody, the defendant threatened her in the most vicious manner. This emerged from intercepted telephone conversations. He "did not agree to the separation," the presiding judge said in the oral statement of the verdict. "He did not want to let the woman go".
For the time after his release he was forbidden to enter the apartment. The homicide occurred in the evening of October 13, 2021 at the entrance to the house.
No confession
In order to reach a verdict, the court had before it various pieces of evidence from which "the events could be created," the judge said. The defendant did not actually confess to the crime. However, he did not deny it either.
The man had shown an "astonishing testimonial behavior". He had always tried to put the woman in a bad light, but had not commented on the accusations of the prosecution. His statements had been contradictory again and again.
The defendant claimed that the woman had rammed a knife into his stomach and that he had gone black. He only regained consciousness in hospital.
The court did not believe that he stabbed the woman ten times in a "quasi unconscious" state. According to a medical report, he injured himself after the crime.
Neighbors as eyewitnesses
Several witness statements were available to the court regarding the course of events. Neighbors, startled by the noise, observed from the windows that evening how the defendant hit the woman "with a silvery object" in his hand, even when she was already lying on the ground.
According to the judge, he had stated at the beginning of the investigation that he always had a knife with him to cut up a watermelon for the children. The knife was never found, but an empty knife sheath was found in the car.
The court had no doubts that the defendant had committed the crime "with knowledge and intent" and for selfish motives, the judge said. He had "brutally attacked the woman with the knife." For the court it was clear that it was murder.
"Acted out of anger, not desperation".
The woman had certainly provoked him - but the couple had obviously been violent towards each other. Certainly, the accused had also been heavily burdened and had found himself in a "blatant conflict situation". However, he had acted "out of anger, not out of desperation".
It was not entirely clear whether the killing was done out of injured honor or as punishment - in any case, the act was reprehensible, the judge said. After 24 years in Switzerland, the defendant had known the local standards of value.
©Keystone/SDA
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