Prosecutor calls for acquittal of convicted German bathtub murderer

 

BAVARIA – The accused in Germany’s so-called “bathtub murder” should be acquitted, the prosecutor said at the man’s retrial on Monday, suggesting there may be no crime to prosecute.

Manfred Genditzki has served 13 years in prison for allegedly drowning an elderly woman in the bathtub of the Bavarian apartment building where he was a caretaker.

A Munich court sentenced him to life in prison in 2010 but prosecutor Michael Schönauer told the retrial: “Did a crime take place at all?”

According to a biomechanical expert, it is possible that the woman fell into the bathtub, hit her head and drowned with no one else present in 2008 in the town of Rottach-Egern.
A thermodynamic expert said the woman probably died well after the time assumed by the prosecution in the original trial.

Genditzki, who is now 62 years old, would be due compensation if the court decides to overturn the murder verdict, the prosecutor said.

The alleged bathtub murderer had always denied the accusations. His lawyer Klaus Wittmann demanded in his closing argument that any acquittal should be because of proven innocence rather than just doubts about evidence.

“There is absolutely no justification for leaving any stain still attached to Mr Genditzki,” Wittmann said. “He is innocent and I think that has to be in the verdict.”

Wittman’s colleague Regina Rick sharply criticized the investigating authorities at the time.
“The prosecution was not only malicious, it was sloppy,” she said. A verdict is expected on Friday.