The Zweibrücken Regional Court found the defendant guilty of bodily harm resulting in death. The 26-year-old Greek national, resident in Luxembourg, had repeatedly punched train attendant Serkan Çalar in the head with his fist in early February on a regional express train near Landstuhl. The victim suffered a brain hemorrhage and died two days later in hospital.
The crime was fully captured by surveillance cameras. The defendant had no ticket and refused to identify himself. When the train attendant asked him to get off, the man lost his temper and struck repeatedly until Çalar lost consciousness. Prosecutor Christian Horras demanded twelve years in prison but saw no intent to kill. The defense argued for a less severe case and requested a sentence at the lower end. The victim’s family’s lawyers considered the crime murder from base motives and demanded life imprisonment; they announced an appeal.
The defendant admitted the act but denied intent to kill and asked the relatives for forgiveness. The joint plaintiffs dismissed this as insincere. The victim’s family’s lawyer, Detlef Placzek, the Rhineland-Palatinate state government’s victim representative, said that Serkan Çalar’s death had left a huge void in the family. The victim leaves behind two children aged ten and twelve, who are now being cared for by the family.
Source: www.spiegel.de
