|
Man denies air crash stabbing
27/02/2004 07:58 - (SA)
Zurich, Switzerland - A man who lost his wife and two children in an airplane collision has been arrested on suspicion that he stabbed to death the air traffic controller on duty at the time of the accident, officials said on Thursday.
Law enforcement officials declined to identify the man or give his nationality, but evidence they disclosed indicated that the 48-year-old man - who spoke only broken German - was a Russian on a visit to Switzerland.
Prosecutor Pascal Gossner said the man has denied killing the 36-year-old controller at the victim's home near Zurich airport on Tuesday night.
The Danish-born controller was working alone when 71 people, including 45 Russian schoolchildren headed for a holiday in Spain, were killed in the July 1, 2002, collision in the southern German area for which he was responsible.
Had an alibi
The suspect in his death "had an alibi for the time of the crime, and that is now being checked," said Georges Dulex, Zurich criminal police chief. "The evidence so far, however, places the man in the centre of the investigation."
Gossner said the man's wife, son and daughter were among the victims in the collision of a Russian charter airliner and a cargo plane.
Dulex and Gossner declined to give the identity or nationality of the suspect.
At least two Russian men lost a wife and two children in the crash, the Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing a lawyer for the crash victims' families.
Angry demeanour
Gossner said the suspect had attracted attention with his "angry demeanour" at a memorial service at the crash site in Ueberlingen, Germany, and that it was possible he made a first trip to Switzerland after the service 18 months ago.
He said the arrested man had been in Switzerland since February 18 - six days before the slaying.
Igor Petrov, speaking for the Russian Embassy in Bern, told reporters that no Swiss officials had contacted the embassy about the arrest and that he was unable to identify the suspect.
We are shocked
"We, of course, are shocked by the killing," Petrov said. "We grieve with the family of the victim."
The air traffic controller, who had lived in Switzerland for more than eight years, had never been formally identified under Swiss privacy laws, but Danish media gave his name as Peter Nielsen. Police Captain Hans Baltensperger said he was survived by his wife, son and daughter.
Dulex said the killer was seen in the controller's neighbourhood Tuesday afternoon. A woman approached the man and asked what he wanted. He showed her a slip of paper and asked for directions to the victim's home. The woman showed him the way.
The victim, who noticed the man sitting on a garden seat in his back yard, went out to speak to him, Dulex said.
There was a short conversation, and the controller's wife heard "a sort of cry" as she stopped her children from coming outside, Dulex said. When the woman turned around, she saw her husband on the ground and the attacker running away.
The controller bled to death from numerous stab wounds and incisions, Dulex said. His heart, lungs and other internal organs were damaged.
The suspect was arrested late on Wednesday in a rented room in the vicinity of the slaying, the police chief said.
The suspected weapon - a folding knife with a 14cm-long blade - was discovered on Wednesday evening close to the scene of the attack, Dulex said. He said the knife was being examined, and that he didn't know if any fingerprints were found.
- AP
|
News
