Cannibal relieved at verdict

2004-01-30 15:39

Germany - A German cannibal jailed for manslaughter on Friday for killing and eating a willing victim is "happy" at being cleared of murder, his lawyer said after the verdict.

Armin Meiwes was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison after the court in Kassel, central Germany, found that his victim had volunteered and was seeking "the ultimate thrill."

The verdict is less than the murder conviction prosecutors had been hoping for, which would have carried an automatic life sentence of 15 years.

"My client is happy that it did not come to murder," lawyer Harald Ermel told reporters immediately after the trial.

"He said he was happy that we had achieved something, that he was not found guilty of murder. He did not want to be a murderer, and that was confirmed by the court."

With time off for good behaviour - "he is a model prisoner," Ermel said - Meiwes could be free by mid-2008, having spent more than a year in custody already pending his trial.

Ermel said Meiwes would undergo psychotherapy, and that he was convinced the 42-year-old would not re-offend.

The defence had argued for a lesser charge of killing on demand, which is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison.

Ermel said he would consider within the next week whether to appeal against the verdict, although he acknowledged that "we had a fair trial."

Meiwes admitted killing and eating Bernd Juergen Brandes, whom he had met over the Internet, on March 10, 2003, after apparently agreeing how it should be carried out.

The judges said both men were "psychologically disturbed." Brandes was an extreme masochist, seeking pain and eventual death, while Meiwes wanted the experience of eating someone.

Asked about Meiwes' future after he leaves prison, Ermel said: "He will live his life, but how he'll live it I can't tell you."

- AFP