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With this picture, the Lucerne police were looking for the alleged perpetrator and found what they were looking for.
The man (31) who attacked and stabbed a taxi driver († 51) in Lucerne in 2020 is guilty of intentional killing. The Lucerne Criminal Court sentenced the Swiss to ten years in prison for this and other crimes.
The public prosecutor also classified the killing as premeditated because the suspect, who was a drug addict at the time, stabbed the taxi driver 16 times. However, she pleaded for a prison sentence of 13 years.
The defense attorney, on the other hand, explained at the trial that his client did not want the chauffeur’s death, but only accepted it. The robbery developed into a serious argument between the accused and the taxi driver who was physically superior to him, and then uncontrolled stabbings occurred. He should therefore only be punished with 8 years in prison.
accomplices convicted
For the robbery with a fatal outcome, the criminal court found the accused guilty, as requested by the public prosecutor’s office, not only of intentional killing but also of robbery, multiple money laundering and drug offences. It also convicted him of another offense including attempted theft.
The accused has been in prison since the crime in March 2020. He showed himself repentant and purified at the trial. The act made him stop using drugs, he said at the trial.
With the 31-year-old, two other men had to answer before the criminal court because they are said to have been involved in the crime. The three judges sentenced one to two years in prison for complicity and the other to half a year for being an accessory.
The alleged accomplice was accused of having the idea for robbing a taxi driver and giving the main perpetrator the knife and the instructions. He denied this in court, but obviously could not convince the judges.
The court only deviated from the prosecutor’s request with the conditional sentence. This had demanded an unconditional prison sentence because of a bad prognosis. The accused had declared at the trial that he would start inpatient addiction therapy in February 2023.
Taxi driver left a wife and four children
In the case of the third accused, the criminal court reduced the sentence by two months compared to the prosecutor’s request. Here, too, the criminal court obviously did not believe the accused’s statements that he knew nothing about the planned robbery. Like the public prosecutor’s office, it was assumed that he had deliberately assisted in the robbery. However, it acquitted him of the charge of minor stolen goods.
The three heroin and cocaine users struggled to get money and drugs during the corona-related lockdown. According to the public prosecutor, they finally decided during the night to rob a taxi driver. The main suspect made himself available for the crime and is said to have received a knife from the accomplice in order to threaten the chauffeur.
But the taxi driver fought back. The main suspect then said he panicked and stabbed him with a knife. Finally he was able to escape with 400 francs. The taxi driver, a 51-year-old Russian, died at the scene near the youth hostel in the city of Lucerne. He left a wife and four children. The verdict is only available in the dispositif. It is not yet final. (SDA)