Submarine killer seeks reduced sentence in appeals trial
COPENHAGEN: Sentenced to life in prison for the murder of journalist Kim Wall aboard his homemade submarine in August 2017, Danish inventor Peter Madsen is hoping to get his jail term reduced when his appeals case opens yestersday.
The Copenhagen High Court has set aside three days for the hearings on Sept 5, 12 and 14.
“The appeals case is only about the sentencing. The trial does not deal with questions of guilt,” High Court spokeswoman Karen Hald told AFP.
Madsen only appealed his sentence, and not the guilty verdict handed down by a Copenhagen district court on April 25 for murdering 30-yearold Wall, chopping up her corpse and throwing her body parts into the sea last year.
The grisly case made headlines worldwide, all the more shocking as it took place in one of the safest countries in the world, according to a report from the independent organisation Institute for Economics & Peace.
On Aug 10, 2017, Wall boarded the submarine with the eccentric and self-taught engineer — a semi- celebrity in Denmark — to interview him for an article she was writing.
Wall’s boyfriend reported her missing when she failed to return home that night. Her dismembered body parts were later found on the seabed, weighted down in plastic bags.
Madsen maintained throughout his trial that her death was accidental.
His lawyer has insisted that his decision to not appeal the guilty verdict should ‘certainly not’ be interpreted as an admission of guilt.
“He realises that he was found guilty and he has to live with that. He decided not to continue fighting it. He doesn’t have the energy needed for that,” Betina Hald Engmark told Danish radio DR.
Hald Engmark said the sentence was “disproportionate compared to legal precedent.”
That will therefore be the main issue for the three appeals court judges to consider.
In Denmark, only one other person apart from Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison for having committed a single murder.
“It’s unusual to be sentenced to life in prison. What was decisive (for the court) was that it was a crime that was prepared and planned,” prosecutor Jakob BuchJepsen said when the sentence was handed down in April.
Madsen changed his version of events several times, but ultimately testified that Wall died when the air pressure suddenly dropped and toxic fumes filled his vessel while he was up on deck.
Despite the testimony of many experts, the lack of tangible evidence in the case and the decomposed state of Wall’s remains made it impossible to determine an exact cause of death. — AFP