On the second of three days of trial in the trial against the 40-year-old Wiesbadener, who is on trial for negligent homicide of his own seven-year-old daughter and for aggravated arson, witnesses drew a contradictory picture of the defendant's character. He was temporarily overwhelmed by tears.

Oliver Bock

Correspondent of the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis and for Wiesbaden.

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The girl had died in March 2022 on the fired, even converted into a houseboat, six-meter-long fishing barge of the man in Schiersteiner harbor. What responsibility falls to the then drug-addicted worker for the tragedy, must find out the Wiesbaden jury under the chairmanship of judge Julia Denne.

Not an easy task. The defendant's 63-year-old mother refused to testify. The father-in-law's statements shed light on a difficult family environment. He had only learned of the existence of his granddaughter when she was already three years old. He also described a visit to the son-in-law in a heavily drunken state, but also called him a "super father" who had been the most important caregiver for the girl and had taken care of him touchingly.

"This is coming to a bad end"

In complete contrast to this were the statements of a boat tripper who had observed father and daughter almost weekly in the summer on the Rettbergsaue. The father then either concentrated on his boat or consumed cannabis with fishing friends, while the daughter was unattended most of the time. According to her own statement, the witness had given the youth welfare office a hint and once informed the water police, but "if nobody takes you seriously, you no longer react," according to the witness. "This is coming to a bad end," she suspected.

Even on the morning of the tragedy in the port, the defendant still had high concentrations of cannabis and medium concentrations of amphetamines in his blood, which would have earned him a penalty while driving. Whether and to what extent the drugs were the cause of the carelessness on board leading to the death of the daughter was not clearly assessed by the expert. Not least because the habituation effect plays a major role.

What exactly happened in the self-built cabin, when the defendant wanted to anchor at the bow, could only be illuminated by the fire expert to some extent. It was undisputed in court that the defendant had left the already opened petrol canister behind during this time and that it tipped over after the narrow boat had swayed. It is suspected that the leaking gasoline has come into contact with one of the two radiators on board. The verdict is to be handed down next week.