Murder of Jennifer Scharinger: Ex-boyfriend sentenced to life imprisonment
Mairon K. admitted guilt in strangling the 21-year-old Jenni in 2018. Vienna's regional court imposed life imprisonment plus committal to secure psychiatric care.
Life sentence for Mairon K.: Trial over death of Jennifer Scharinger ends in guilty verdict
As Google News AT — Crime (de) reported, Mairon K. was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday at Vienna's Regional Criminal Court for the murder of his then-girlfriend Jennifer Scharinger. The verdict is not yet final.
"If you asked me where I would hide a body: I would put it under a compost heap, two to three months. If the person is being searched for, I would then take the bones and grind them. Then you scatter the stuff somewhere and no one will find it." With these words – directed at a supposed flirtation on a dating site – Mairon K. incriminated himself. What he did not know: his correspondent was an acquaintance of Brigitta Scharinger, the mother of the missing Jennifer.
Death in the Ospelgasse
Jennifer Scharinger, 21 years old, died in the morning of 22 January 2018 in her flat in the Ospelgasse in Vienna-Brigittenau. When she wanted to leave Mairon K. – who was still called Clemens T. at the time – he strangled the young woman, hid her in a box and transported the body to a woodland area near Großweikersdorf. Two months later he returned, wrapped her in a tarpaulin and deposited her on the military training ground in Allentsteig – a 50-minute drive, windows open.
For eight years, Brigitta Scharinger searched for her daughter. She asked Mairon K. in person where Jennifer was. She received no answer.
Full confession in the courtroom
"I plead fully guilty," declared the 33-year-old at the start of the hearing. The nearly two-metre-tall defendant appeared in a black suit, tie and white shirt, hair combed back. The courtroom was completely full – friends and family members of the victim had come, some had brought a candle with Jennifer's picture, but it was taken from them at entry.
"Jenni was a wonderful person," K. said in the course of the hearing. "I played God and took her life." He cited a moment of extreme rage as the reason. Immediately after the act, he sat on the couch, installed Instagram on his phone and wrote to another woman.
When the judge asked what he had felt at the time, K. answered: "Fear." – "Fear of what?" – "That I would be caught."
Psychiatric assessment: "highly rational and cold-blooded"
Psychiatric expert Peter Hofmann described two sides of the defendant. "At the beginning, he saw the problem in Jennifer Scharinger," said Hofmann. He assessed the behaviour after the act as "very unusual": "He made the decision in a highly rational manner and with a certain cold-bloodedness."
Defence counsel Astrid Wagner emphasised in her closing argument that K. was not a "cold-blooded killer." Narcissists like him were "muddles who have no self-esteem." The confession, according to Wagner, was not forced by investigative findings or the true-crime chat, but occurred "of his own accord, because he could not bear it any longer."
The prosecution demanded the maximum possible sentence and framed it as a social signal: "A woman is not property, a separation is not a wrong."
Final statement and verdict
In his closing statement, K. addressed the victim's family: "Jennifer was a wonderful person. In that January I played God, took someone's life, because I have struggled with personal problems since my childhood. I want help. That's it."
Approximately one and a half hours later the court announced the verdict: life imprisonment and committal to a forensic-therapeutic centre. The jurors voted unanimously for a guilty verdict, 8:0.
The court considered the cruel manner of the killing as an aggravating factor. Mitigating factors were the defendant's previously unblemished record, his confession and his cooperation with police in leading them to the location where the body was found. A "sustained, serious mental disorder" of the defendant justified the additional committal – K. remained a danger.
Defence counsel Wagner immediately filed an application for a declaration of nullity and an appeal after the verdict was announced. The verdict is therefore not yet final. K. withdrew with his lawyer for consultation after the verdict was announced.
Source: Google News AT — Crime (de)