The life sentence for the terrible murder of a six-year-old in Baden-Baden is legally binding. As the Baden-Baden public prosecutor announced on Thursday, the Federal Court of Justice largely rejected the defendant's appeal in a decision dated August 8th of this year. The now 35-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Baden-Baden regional court on November 29 last year for, among other things, murder, disturbing the peace of the dead and attempted murder in conjunction with attempted arson resulting in death.

The particular severity of the guilt was also determined. Once the particularly serious nature of the guilt has been established, early release from prison after 15 years is virtually impossible.

The regional court considered it proven that the trained road builder killed the girl with a knife for sexual motives on the night of December 19, 2021 and sexually assaulted the corpse. According to the court, the man also mutilated the body in the worst possible way. The six-year-old had spent the night with the defendant's son - the boy was her playground friend. The cruel event caused horror across the region.

Reputation as a loving father

The trained road builder was considered a reliable and loving father. He was popular with children. Nothing indicated to the girl's mother that her daughter could be in danger with him. The court was unable to fully clarify what exactly happened in the house that night. One thing is clear: the child was killed with a cut in the throat. According to the court, the defendant then desecrated and mutilated the body in the "worst way" and set it on fire - probably in order to take the lives of himself and his son. Four of the man's relatives were sleeping in the house at the time.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) only overturned the regional court's judgment to the extent that it had granted a so-called adhesion application by the co-plaintiffs. According to the prosecution, the Federal Court of Justice is of the opinion that the application for payment of survivor's benefit submitted by the parents of the child who was killed was inadmissible for formal reasons. Details were not known. The BGH ruling has not yet been published.