Prosecutors, however, are painting an altogether different picture, describing the act as a power move aimed at building his self-worth. I wanted "someone to be part of me," he told the court. In December, Meiwes said he was not acting out of sexual desire when he killed Bernd-Jürgen B., but rather out of loneliness and the desire for the brother he never had. Ten hours later, Brandes was still alive, so Meiwes stabbed him several times in the neck to put an end to his pain, and his life.
"What we have here is an inability to have warm and tender feelings toward others," he said. He added that the 42-year-old had a "schizoid personality" and has problems forming relationships. "There’s no evidence of a psychological disorder," said George Stolpmann.
Even if his cannibalistic fantasies continued, he said, he would not kill any more people, adding that he only killed his first victim because it was his expressed wish to die.īut prosecutor Köhler said the trial had proven that Meiwes murdered his victim for his sexual gratification and to fulfill his cannibalistic yearnings.Ī psychiatrist testifying in the case on Friday described Meiwes as fit to stand trial. In resting his case on Monday, Meiwes said he "regretted all that I have done" and asked for God’s help. Among the evidence in the case is a video in which Meiwes films himself slaughtering his victim in a scene straight out of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," complete with meat hooks, a cage and a butcher’s table. The trial has proven to be one of the most riveting and salacious to take place in Germany in decades. His victim, identified in the case only as Bernd-Jürgen B., volunteered to be killed after answering an Internet ad placed by 42-year-old Meiwes seeking "young men for real slaughter and consumption." But prosecutor Köhler said Meiwes had been aware that his victim was suffering from a serious personality disorder and was unable to think rationally. Meiwes’ video from the killing, which designed for chilling viewing contained in the courtroom docket, has happy prosecutors that Bernd-Jürgen B.’s inadequate existence emerges as voluntary. This video was never made public, although stills are located on the. But, it still takes several hours for Brandes to die and when he does the video then disturbingly depicts Meiwes hanging Brandes by a hook to remove pieces of flesh that he later consumes over the following weeks. Meiwes’ attorney, Harald Ermel, has said that the cannibal can only be prosecuted on a charge of assisted suicide, which would carry a maximum prison term of five years. Armin Meiwes The Rotenburg Cannibal Cannibals Warning - some graphic content.
"He slaughtered his victim like a piece of livestock and treated him as an object of fancy." VIDEO images of mutilation and execution flickered in a darkened German courtroom yesterday, as cannibal Armin Meiwes’s grisly home movie was played for the first time. "The desire to slaughter a man and eat him up was the paramount motive for his action," said prosecutor Marcus Köhler. Judges upheld his claim that the movie - titled "Rohtenburg," in an echo of his hometown's name - detailed events in his private life and infringed his personal rights.Closing arguments were given Monday in a Kassel regional court where Germany’s "Cannibal of Rotenburg" is on trial for killing a man, eating his genitalia and then freezing the rest of his body to consume in later repasts. Meiwes has scored one legal victory, securing a ban by another court on the screening of a film that was inspired by his case. It could sway the jury against Meiwes case. The reason why Meiwes and his lawyer want the film to be put on pause, is for the trial. In early 2004, a court in the city of Kassel convicted Meiwes of manslaughter and sentenced him to 8½ years in prison, but prosecutors appealed the verdict.įederal judges overturned the original ruling last year and ordered a retrial, arguing the lower court, in rejecting murder charges, failed to give sufficient consideration to the sexual motive behind the killing. Apparently, even though his victim was willing, since Meiwes video taped the killing, it is there by a Self-Satisfing act that is classified him for Murder charges. Police tracked down and arrested Meiwes in December 2002 after a student in Austria alerted them to a message Meiwes had posted on the Internet seeking a man willing to be killed and eaten. He has also said he ate more after the killing. and reminded everyone that there are still monsters in the world. "I wanted to eat him - I didn't want to kill him," he told the court.īefore Brandes was killed, the two attempted to eat parts of the man's body together, Meiwes said. There are some downright terrifying facts about Armin Meiwes, the German cannibal. Still, the defendant claimed he had hesitated before going through with the act.