‘Psychopathic’ Danish inventor tortured and killed writer, court told
THE Danish inventor accused of torturing and killing Swedish journalist Kim Wall during a private submarine trip before dismembering her body is an intelligent man “with psychopathic tendencies”, a prosecutor said as the murder trial opened.
Peter Madsen (47) is standing trial in Copenhagen accused of torturing Ms Wall (30) before he either cut her throat or strangled her on his submarine in August. He denies murder, but has admitted to dismembering her body before he “buried her at sea”.
Ms Wall embarked on Mr Madsen’s submarine on August 10 to interview him. Her remains were found in plastic bags on the Baltic Sea bed weeks later; her torso had been stabbed multiple times.
Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen said a psychiatric report has concluded Mr Madsen has “no empathy or feelings of guilt”.
Giving evidence, Mr Madsen repeated his claim that Ms Wall died accidentally inside the UC3 Nautilus while he was on deck. He said Ms Wall “had a wonderful evening until it ended in an accident”, and denied that any sexual activity had taken place.
Mr Madsen had offered shifting explanations for Ms Wall’s death prior to the trial. He initially said he dropped Ms Wall off on an island. Then he said she died accidentally inside the submarine when a hatch fell and hit her on the head. Yesterday, he claimed there was a sudden pressure problem. “I could not open the hatches. I heard Kim, it was not good,” he said.
The prosecution claims Ms Wall’s murder was premeditated because Mr Madsen brought along tools he normally did not take when sailing.
The 18m-long submarine sank shortly after being spotted afloat. Mr Madsen reported “man overboard” over the radio and was picked up alone.
Police believe he sank the submarine on purpose, and later found videos of women being tortured and killed on his personal computer. He did not make the videos himself, investigators said. The trial continues.