Inventor given life for horror murder on sub
Journalist’s body parts found in the Baltic Sea
A DANISH inventor has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a Swedish journalist on his home-made submarine. Kim Wall’s dismembered body was found in Copenhagen last year after she visited Peter Madsen for a trip on the UC3 Nautilus.
Madsen, 47, frequently changed his version of events but always denied murder.
At first he claimed he had dropped Miss Wall, 30, off on the shore and did not know what had happened to her, but later he said she had accidentally hit her head on the submarine’s hatch so he buried her at sea. He then insisted she died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and that he had to chop up her body to get her out of the 56ft sub.
But Judge Anette Burkoe and two jurors at Copenhagen City Court ruled yesterday that Miss Wall’s death was murder.
She said Madsen had not given a ‘trustworthy’ explanation of what happened to Miss Wall, and had ‘shown an interest for the killing and maiming of people and has shown an interest for impaling’. The court had been shown videos from his computer and phone showing the murder, torture and impalement of women.
Police who examined his mobile phone said it showed he had watched a beheading video shortly before he took Miss Wall out in the submarine.
Copenhagen City Court Judge Burkoe said they had unanimously decided Wall’s death was a murder, finding Madsen also guilty of sexual assault and the defilement of a corpse.
‘It is the court’s assessment that the defendant killed Kim Wall,’ Ms Burkoe told the courtroom.
During the 12 days of the trial, that began on March 8, the court heard that Madsen, 47, lured 30-year-old Wall on to his homemade submarine with the promise of an interview she had been trying to get for months.
Ms Wall, a freelance journalist who wrote for leading magazines and newspapers, was last seen on August 10 last year waving to her boyfriend and other friends ashore as the submarine sailed off into the Baltic.
Her dismembered torso was found days later at sea off Copenhagen, and other body parts were found in plastic bags in October.
‘We are talking about a cynical and planned sexual assault and brutal murder of a random woman, who – in connection with her journalistic work – had accepted an offer to go sailing in the defendant’s submarine,’ Judge Burkoe told the court.
Life sentences in Denmark usually equate to 16 years in prison, but prisoners are re-assessed during that time to determine whether they would constitute a danger to society if released and should be kept longer. Immediately after the verdict, Madsen’s lawyer, Betina Hald Engmark, told the court she would appeal. The court ordered Madsen should be kept behind bars during the appeals process.
Ms Wall’s parents were not there for the verdict but prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen said after the ruling he spoke to family members who were present.
‘We are, of course, very satisfied that the court has accepted the arguments of the prosecution and handed the heaviest sentence in Danish law,’ he said.
Throughout the trial Madsen denied murder, saying 30-year-old Wall died accidentally inside the submarine. He changed his story several times. Initially he told authorities that he had dropped her off on shore and did not know what had happened to her. He then claimed she had died accidentally when hit in the head by the submarine’s hatch.
Finally, after her decapitated head was found by police divers in a weighted-down bag along with her appendages, and the skull showed no signs of fracture, he said she had been asphyxiated in a malfunction aboard the submarine.
He also initially denied dismembering her, then confessed that he had done so and said he had thrown her body parts into the Baltic Sea.
Judge Burkoe noted the discrepancies, saying Madsen ‘failed to give trustworthy explanations’.
She added that evidence also showed he ‘has shown interest for killing and maiming of people and has shown interest for impaling’.
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He had watched a beheading video He changed his story several times