It didn’t matter to the investigators that Carolin G.’s birthday was shortly after her death on May 10, 2023. For Björn R., the man who was convicted by the Potsdam regional court on Friday as the person who ordered her murder, yes. The dispute between the ex-partners over their little son had long since been fought out in a tough way. The regional court speaks of psychological terror in its verdict. But about the last days of the young mother’s life, the judge says: “So that Carolin did not have any suspicions, the defendant behaved in a friendly manner and showed his conciliatory side.” The agreement actually stipulated that that the then two-year-old child was supposed to spend her mother’s birthday weekend with her father. However, in order to “keep Carolin G. safe,” Björn R. agreed to leave the son to his mother on this day. The presiding judge, Bodo Wermelskirchen, said: “R. It was clear that this would no longer happen.”After 37 days of negotiations and 182 witness statements, the circumstantial evidence trial surrounding the death of the shot teacher on Autobahn 9 came to an end on Friday in the Potsdam regional court. The chamber sentenced both defendants to life imprisonment for murder. The 42-year-old Björn R. was undoubtedly the perpetrator of the crime, said the presiding judge in his more than three and a half hour long reasoning for the verdict. 43-year-old Benjamin K. is the shooter. In the case of the client Björn R., the court also recognized the particular gravity of the guilt, which precludes early release from prison after 15 years on probation. Both men denied the crime until the end. Their driving license will also be revoked. A “staged traffic accident” 40-year-old Carolin G. was driving her car home to Niemegk in Brandenburg in the early evening of May 10, 2023. She had previously delivered her two-year-old son to Björn R. in Berlin-Zehlendorf as agreed. The court spoke of a “staged traffic accident,” which is why it considered the murder characteristic of insidiousness. The contract killer Benjamin K. deliberately rammed the woman’s Hyundai and parked his vehicle in front of Carolin G. when she stopped on the hard shoulder. He then shot the teacher through the driver’s window, shattering the window. Six more shots hit Carolin G. in the upper body, stomach and hip. The police officers who were the first to arrive at the scene of the alleged accident described her face as distorted by fear and distorted with pain. Wermelskirchen said: “It was important to take advantage of this element of surprise.” He spoke of a “real execution.” The murder was also carried out for base motives, according to the court. Björn R. wanted to get rid of his son’s mother out of “crazy selfishness,” whom he only perceived as “a disruptive factor.” Wermelskirchen called the fact that he wanted to have the boy “all to himself” “highly narcissistic.” Particularly reprehensible: “The act took the two-year-old’s mother away.” For Carolin G., the boy was an “absolute dream child,” and there was a “stable relationship” between mother and son – contrary to what the child’s father repeatedly claimed in the custody dispute. passed. The court did not follow the prosecution’s argument that the murderers had also acted out of greed. A confession to distract Björn R., wearing a light shirt over a white T-shirt and his hair freshly trimmed, accepted the reasons for the verdict largely without moving. As is often the case, the self-employed electrician took notes. Benjamin K., on the other hand, who was allowed to wear sunglasses and a hood in the courtroom for health reasons, dropped his jaw. When the court pointed out not only financial dependence on his school friend R., but also an erotic interest in him, he signaled suppressed protest. K., who was already considered an oddball at the Waldorf school and never received any training, is alive openly homosexual. In his detailed statement at the beginning of the trial in January, the court attested to the “classic features of a diversionary confession”: K. had admitted to less serious acts such as taking part in the arson of the parents’ house of the person killed and the removal of the vehicle. Benjamin K. also admitted that that he spied for Björn R. in front of his son’s daycare center for an hourly wage of 15 euros in order to prove wrongdoing to the mother in the custody dispute. He was repeatedly seen dressed entirely in black, with a hood and cap – just like the figure that eyewitnesses saw on the hard shoulder of the A9 next to Carolin G.’s car on May 10, 2023. The conviction is based solely on circumstantial evidence , the murder weapon was never found. Nevertheless, Wermelskirchen said: “The taking of evidence did not reveal any valid evidence that any other person could have attempted to kill Carolin G..” R. “planned the crime meticulously and prepared accordingly. The court is convinced that he also got the firearm. In the fall of 2022, he contacted a “shady lawyer” who allegedly had contacts in the clan milieu. He later showed an acquaintance a Glock 9-millimeter pistol, which, according to the court, was later the murder weapon. Björn R. was driven by “feelings of hatred and a deep-seated feeling of revenge”. He was also the only one who would have benefited from the teacher’s death. The Opel Vectra was crucial. The central piece of evidence to convict the two men: an Opel Vectra that had previously changed hands so often that its origins were not easily determined could be traced back. Björn R. only bought it to kill Carolin G., according to the judge. Benjamin K. used the car in the weeks before the crime to investigate Carolin G.’s life. A witness photographed the vehicle near her school a few days apart – although it was optically different and had different license plates, it was still demonstrably the same car. According to the court, top-class experts have proven with their reports that the paint and accident traces on the Vectra and Hyundai can be brought into “good agreement”. The behavior at night also convicts both men, according to the court. Benjamin K. tried to get rid of the crime vehicle and wanted to go abroad. He unscrewed the license plates, which were later found in his motorhome, and set the Vectra on fire. Björn R., meanwhile, showed no interest in the fate of his son’s mother when the police informed him about the alleged accident. Rather, he deleted his entire WhatsApp chat with Benjamin K. – by May 10th of all days. The court stated that Björn R. had repeatedly made death threats to his son’s mother over a period of eleven months – especially to his new girlfriend, with whom he was expecting another child. He wrote to her in messages about a “war,” that he was “so full of anger” and that he would like to get “short shrift.” The new friend’s statement was a breakthrough when this woman reported the violent death of Carolin G. found out, she contacted the police. This would prove to be a breakthrough for the investigation. As a result, the phones of the two main suspects were tapped. In one of these conversations, Björn R. said he was “scared” that someone had “taken a photo” or that a “dashcam” had been used – a statement that the court found clearly related to what was happening on the A9 The court also hears the testimony of a fellow prisoner of Björn R. from the correctional facility in Neumünster, where he was taken after his arrest at a campsite in Glücksburg in July 2023. Through his “empathetic pastoral manner,” the witness got into a conversation with R., who confessed to him about the contract killing. Even if the witness could have learned certain details that could be considered knowledge of the perpetrator from the media before contacting the police, he could not have come up with a particularly “tasteless and hateful statement”: Björn R. committed the murder “An early birthday present”.More on the topicCarolin G.’s father said after the verdict: “The graduation today was important for the family.” When asked about Carolin G.’s son, who is now growing up with her younger sister, he said: “He’s actually fine.”
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