The faces of the two accused are initially unrecognizable. The 17-year-old girl has pulled the hood of her light blue jacket down over her face and is also wearing an FFP2 mask. The 18-year-old has also put on a hood.
Senior public prosecutor Daniel Götz summarizes in a few minutes what the two are accused of: They are said to have killed the girl's parents. The 18-year-old is said to have stabbed. Regarding the role of the daughter, it says: "The defendant hated her parents and wanted to see them dead." The trial of Mistelbach's alleged double murder began on Wednesday in the Bayreuth district court.
Public is excluded early
After the indictment had been presented, the defense attorneys for the two German defendants filed motions to exclude the public. The youth chamber agrees that spectators and media professionals will only be allowed back into the hall for the verdict, which is planned for December.
However, the sober summary of the allegations increases their impact: the two are said to have planned to make the crime on the night of January 9 look like a burglary. The friend therefore put a ski mask over his head and went into the bedroom, which was in the basement of the house in Mistelbach (Bayreuth district). First he killed his girlfriend's 51-year-old father with stabs in the chest, neck and face, then he also stabbed her 47-year-old mother, causing her death.
The child heard the mother's screams
Meanwhile, dramatic scenes must have been unfolding upstairs in the bedroom area of the family's four children. Because the accused should - according to the plan - prevent her siblings from intervening. The second oldest child in the family, now 15 years old, is said to have heard his mother's screams. But the defendant prevented any help. When the accused returned to the upper floor, both are said to have taken the siblings' cell phones and landline telephone so that they could not get help. The two suspects then fled.
The 17-year-old sits upright and looks towards the prosecutor and the judge when they speak. The 18-year-old, on the other hand, has his head and shoulders lowered. According to the public prosecutor's office, the young man had been living with his girlfriend's family since November.
Lots of open questions
What exactly did you argue about with your parents? Where did the hate come from? These questions must initially remain open. The accused was ready to speak at length in court, his defense attorney had said. But if the meeting continues in public, he fears inhibitions and shame in him.
The presiding judge Andrea Deyerling justified the exclusion of the public, among other things, with the fact that the 17-year-old is considered by experts to be at risk of self-harm. She therefore lives in custody in a video-monitored room and has already been treated in a clinic. One wants to protect the private interests of the two, which are worthy of protection.
Siblings should testify as witnesses
Two of the younger siblings are also to testify as witnesses in the course of the proceedings. During this time, the two accused are not allowed to be in the room. The youth chamber argued that re-traumatization was to be feared if they met their sister and the 18-year-old again.
The interest in the process was great, many spectators wanted to be in the hall. The family's place of residence has less than 2,000 inhabitants, and the shock is still deep there. In addition, the victim was a pediatrician who was well-known in the region and who wanted to open a large, modern center for pediatric medicine with his practice partner at the beginning of the year.
