With the verdict, the court followed the public prosecutor’s request. The defense had requested an acquittal.
According to the indictment, the man from the community of Muldestausee is said to have mixed parts of the highly poisonous monkshood with the active ingredient aconite into his wife’s food last April with the intent to kill. Since the dose initially had no lethal effect, the next day he is said to have mixed a larger amount into yogurt, which the woman ate unsuspectingly.
A short time later, the woman was taken to hospital with symptoms of poisoning, where she fell into a coma and ultimately died. According to a medical expert, the cause of death was most likely aconitine poisoning.
The public prosecutor’s office assumes that the man not only treacherously killed his wife, but also acted for base reasons so as not to have to pay maintenance in the event of a divorce.
The background to the crime is said to have been a long-term affair between the man and a 58-year-old woman. According to the prosecution, she repeatedly urged the man to choose between her and his wife. Finally, she is said to have given him an ultimatum and threatened to expose the man.
The 58-year-old was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Friday for attempted coercion and failure to report a planned crime.
According to the court, on the first day of the trial, the defendant admitted the affair through his lawyer, but denied the crime. He only claims to have pretended to the 58-year-old that he repeatedly spoke about putting something in his wife’s food in messages to his co-defendant via a messenger service.
The blue monkshood is the most poisonous plant in Central Europe, especially the root tubers and seeds are poisonous. The effects of the plant were already known in ancient times, and its extracts were used for murder and as arrow poison. The poison penetrates the skin just by touching it and can lead to skin inflammation and serious poisoning.