A court in the German federal state of Bavaria today sentenced an American to life imprisonment for attacking two American citizens last year near the famous Neuschwanstein Castle.
He pushed them into a ravine, mortally wounded one, and sexually assaulted the other. The judge in the city of Kempten said in the explanation of the verdict that the defendant bears a particularly heavy guilt, which means that he will probably not be eligible for release after 15 years, as is usually the case in Germany.
The defendant pleaded guilty at the beginning of the trial, which began on February 19.
Although officials in accordance with German privacy laws did not identify the perpetrator or his victims, their families and friends said they were Eva Liu, who was killed, and her friend Kelsey Chang, who survived. Both recently graduated from the American University of Illinois.
The attack took place on June 14 near the bridge over the gorge where there is a lookout point towards the castle, one of Germany's latest tourist destinations.
Prosecutors say that the convict accidentally met two victims on the trail and lured them aside, where, according to their testimony, he attacked them by knocking one of them to the ground and trying to strip her.
When the other intervened in an attempt to save her, in the commotion that arose, the defendant was pushed down the steep slope. She fell from a height of 50 meters, suffered a head injury and cuts on her body, but survived.
He then allegedly strangled another girl and raped her, before throwing her over a cliff as well. She died later in hospital.
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