Ten years after brutal attack: bus driver tried for attempted murder
A man arrested in Turkey faces trial at Munich Regional Court for a beating in 2015. Two accomplices had already been convicted.
Ten years after brutal attack: bus driver tried for attempted murder
A jury at Munich Regional Court I has opened proceedings against a 34-year-old defendant. The man is accused of taking part in a fatal assault on a publican more than a decade ago.
The now 34-year-old was apprehended in Turkey last summer. Previously, he earned his living as a bus driver in Georgia. He is accused of attacking and severely injuring the then 41-year-old operator of a public house in the Maxvorstadt district in front of his home in Obergiesing during the night of 4 February 2015, together with a group of at least five other people.
According to investigations, the conflict had already escalated in January 2015 in a café. There, the defendant's uncle became involved in a physical altercation with the later victim. Both sustained serious injuries in the process. The uncle's family regarded this as an affront to their honour and, according to the public prosecutor's office, decided to take revenge.
At around 23:00 on the night of the attack, the group allegedly waited for the publican. After his taxi had left the address, four of the attackers are said to have surrounded the victim and, without any warning, beaten him to the ground with baseball bats and wooden clubs. They then kicked and struck the defenceless man at least 17 more times. The man suffered an open skull-brain trauma, a fracture of the skull and a brain injury. To this day he suffers from the lasting effects; his disability rating is 37 per cent.
Already in March 2016, three alleged accomplices stood trial. Two received prison sentences of eleven and eleven-and-a-half years for attempted manslaughter. The uncle of the current defendant was acquitted. A European arrest warrant was issued against the nephew, which led to his arrest only after ten years.
At the start of proceedings on Monday, the defendant made no statement regarding the accusations. The judges expect to deliver a verdict by mid-August.
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung