A 38-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison after murdering two men in separate knife attacks in Kassel within hours of each other.
The Kassel Regional Court found that the defendant, who holds both German and Kazakh citizenship, stabbed the two victims a combined 50 times before cutting their throats.
His 44-year-old best friend suffered 20 stab wounds, while a 51-year-old acquaintance was stabbed 30 times. Both men were attacked during the same night in March.
The court also established the particular gravity of the crimes, which substantially reduces the prospect of release after 15 years, and ordered preventive detention after the prison sentence because of the risk that he could commit further serious acts of violence.
Prosecutors said the killer had accused both men of attempting to murder him by giving him crack cocaine contaminated with fentanyl. He confronted each victim separately, claiming he wanted to discover why he had repeatedly experienced symptoms of poisoning after taking drugs.
In both cases, an argument escalated into violence.
“He first injured the victims with the knife and then killed them,” the presiding judge said, as cited by Tag24.
Although the man suffers from severe multiple addictions and a pronounced antisocial personality disorder, the court ruled that he remained fully capable of understanding the illegality of his actions and controlling his behavior.
His 30-year-old former girlfriend, a Russian national who had also been charged, was acquitted and released from pretrial detention.
She admitted being present during the murders but said she had not participated and had accompanied the defendant only because she feared he would kill or seriously injure her if she refused.
The court accepted that account, finding that their relationship had been marked by violence and abuse and that she had been at his mercy. Judges concluded that she was present under duress and had neither assisted nor encouraged the killings.
The judgment can still be appealed.
