Lonely cannibal 'sought family'
2004-01-09 15:24
Kassel, Germany - A German self-confessed cannibal standing trial for murder was a kind man looking for a wife with whom to start a family, two female witnesses told a court here Friday.
The women said that Armin Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer technician who has admitted killing and eating another man he claims was a willing victim, had tried to develop a relationship with them.
"He came across as very child-like, when he played with children, as if he were a child himself," said a 39-year-old witness, who was not identified. "I noticed that he seemed content with us in our family."
The woman said she decided against a relationship with Meiwes when he told her of his homosexual tendencies.
A female neighbour said he had also tried to start a relationship with her and had spoken of his desire to marry and have several children.
Meiwes had denied murdering Bernd-Juergen Brandes. He claims Brandes, 43, consented to his own death on March 10, 2001 and then to be eaten while it was all filmed on home video.
His lawyers say he is guilty at worst of "killing on demand", punishable by up to five years in prison.
Prosecutors are pressing for a guilty verdict for murder which carries a minimum 15-year life sentence. Cannibalism itself is not a crime in Germany.
Meiwes's brother and father were also due to testify before the court in the central German city of Kassel on Friday.
- SAPA