German grandson gets life sentence for killing grandparents

Court

A German court on Tuesday handed a life sentence to a 27-year-old man for the murder and manslaughter of the doting grandmother and grandfather, who had bankrolled his free-spending ways before threatening to cut him off.

The wealthy couple, Enno, 91, and Christa, 88, Springmann, who were known in the city of Wuppertal for their patronage of the arts, were killed in their villa in the western German city in March 2017.

“They had done their assailant nothing but good,’’ presiding Judge Robert Bertling said.

The court found out that the grandson had beaten and strangled his grandfather to death after being confronted about the way he had spent the money lavished on him.

The 27-year-old was found guilty of manslaughter on this charge, as the court ruled that the act was not premeditated.

He then beat and strangled his grandmother for fear she would incriminate him, for this, he was found guilty of premeditated murder.

However, a co-accused, a business partner of the grandson, was acquitted.

The court found that the grandson had tricked his grandparents, who had made their money by establishing a mechanical engineering company, into believing he was studying.

Instead he had wasted the money, going through 600,000 Euros (675,000 dollars) in a single year.

“He liked to boast, thought himself something special, defined himself through designer labels and later with extremely expensive cars,’’ Bertling said.

The two accused did not react to the judgment, but the mother of the convict burst into tears and cried out: “You can’t do this.’’ (dpa/NAN)