The public prosecutor’s office is seeking a life sentence for a 66-year-old Dommeldange man accused of punching and then strangling his wife to death in September 2023.
“I loved my wife and I still love her”, the accused told the judges of the 13th Criminal Chamber on Tuesday. The man strangled his wife with his own hands in September 2023.
At last, the man showed the emotion that psychiatrists, psychologists, and investigators had failed to see in their exchanges with him. He repeatedly had to hold back tears. He recounted how, during a holiday, his wife told him after 40 years together that she had met another man. “She said that for the last 12 years, she had felt as if we were living like flatmates”, he stated, claiming this revelation came as a complete shock. He testified that her demeanor grew “cold and dismissive” afterward.
According to his testimony, on the night of 29 September 2023 – one week after the confession – he attacked his wife without provocation upon her return home from a dinner. “I turn around and punch her right in the face... just like that...”, he explained, before recounting how he proceeded to strangle her with his bare hands.
He claimed he cannot explain his actions. That same night, he transported her body to a wooded area near Consdorf, disposed of her clothing, and attempted to conceal the crime. The following day, he joined his two adult children to file a missing person report.
Throughout the hearing, the defendant insisted the act was not premeditated. “To this day, I don’t understand how a person can do something like that. Especially someone like me”, he said, describing the event as unfolding “like a film”.
However, investigative findings presented in court contradict this assertion. Police records indicate that the day before the murder, the defendant visited the woods to locate a site and purchased bags, gloves, and painter’s overalls from a hardware store, in case he, in his own words, “did something stupid”. During questioning, he claimed to have no memory of these statements. His defence lawyer, Lynn Frank, argued that purchasing these items did not in itself constitute proof of a premeditated plan.
In her closing argument, the prosecutor underscored expert assessments from psychologists and psychiatrists, which indicated the defendant displayed no significant remorse and appeared more preoccupied with his own solitude after the death of his wife. The reports further stated that experts could not rule out the possibility of him reoffending in a similar situation. Rejecting the notion of a crime of passion, the prosecution characterised the act as premeditated and formally requested a life sentence for murder.
Defence lawyer Lynn Frank countered in her plea, asserting her client’s genuine remorse. “My client was in a state of emotional distress and had never experienced such a stressful situation in his life”, she explained. She portrayed a man whose existence was entirely built around his wife, for whom the prospect of continuing without her was “unbearable”.
Frank asked the court to consider mitigating circumstances and to impose a sentence below the life term sought by the prosecution. She highlighted her client’s full confession and cooperation with police, requesting that a substantial portion of any sentence be suspended or probated.
The prosecutor objected to this point, contending that the defendant confessed only when he realised his initial account was untenable.
The court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on 25 February.
