A German court on Friday discharged a former custodian who had spent more than 13 years in prison for the suspected murder of an elderly woman found in a bathtubt
Manfred Genditzki had been handed a life sentence for allegedly killing an 87-year-old tenant of the building where he worked in 2008 by striking her on the head during a dispute and then drowning her.
Genditzki had consistently denied murdering the woman during a lengthy legal battle.
Genditzki, who is now 63 years, had worked in a large residential complex in the southern town of Rottach-Egern, and had already successfully contested his conviction before a federal tribunal, but was found guilty again by a Munich court in 2012.
After more than 13 years in custody, he returned to his family and began working as a driver at a cheese factory while the regional court granted him a new trial.
However, in a judicial scandal that made national headlines today, the judges of the regional court in Munich ruled that Genditzki had been wrongly convicted and ordered compensation of nearly 369,000 euros, which is 75 euros for every day he spent in jail.
Commenting on today’s acquittal, the court spokesman said it came on the basis of expert reports using the most modern methods which were not available at the time of the previous convictions.
The spokesman maintained that, after spending 4,915 days wrongly imprisoned in which he missed taking part in raising his children or witnessing the birth of his grandchildren, Genditzki is now exonerated.
Credit: AFP
