Inventor charged with murder of journalist on his submarine
A DANISH prosecutor has called for Peter Madsen, the artist and inventor, to be jailed for life for the “extremely brutal” and allegedly premeditated murder of Kim Wall, a Swedish journalist.
According to the charges handed to Madsen yesterday, the 47-year-old is suspected of killing Ms Wall by either “cutting of the throat or strangulation”.
Prosecutors say they now believe the murder was planned in advance. Madsen has also been charged with “sexual relations other than intercourse of a particularly dangerous nature”.
“This is a very unusual and extremely brutal case which has had tragic consequences for Kim Wall and her relatives,” Jakob Buch-jepsen, the special prosecutor leading the case, said yesterday.
He also revealed that court psychiatrists had ruled on Monday that the submarine and rocket builder may need to be kept in “safe custody”. “There is a significant and very real danger that he may represent a threat to the life, health and well-being of others,” Mr Buch-jepsen said.
Madsen has admitted to dismembering the body of the 30-year-old journalist after she died on board his home-built submarine, Nautilus, on Aug 10. However. he claims that she died in an accident, after which he went into a “suicidal psychosis”.
Ms Wall’s torso was found on Aug 21 washed up on a beach on Amager island. There were 15 stab wounds on her body. Her arms and legs were found over the following weeks.
Prosecutors have previously said they believe Madsen killed Ms Wall as part of a sexual fantasy.
Investigators found a hard disk in Madsen’s workshop that contained fetish films in which women were tortured. Madsen, who is married, has denied any sexual relations with Ms Wall, and insisted the hard drive did not belong to him.
Mr Buch-jepsen refused to say why investigators have now concluded that the killing was pre-planned, claiming that to answer the question would give away evidence crucial in the forthcoming trial. Ms Wall is thought to have been planning to write a feature on Madsen, who is a well-known figure in Copenhagen, before moving to Beijing, China.
The trial will begin on March 8 and continue for eight court days, with the sentence expected on April 25.