German accused of double murder in Algarve sentenced to life imprisonment

http://sol.sapo.pt/inicio/Sociedade/Interior.aspx?content_id=60186

German accused of double murder in Algarve sentenced to life imprisonment


October 1, 2012
The German engineer who was on trial in Munich on charges of murder, in the Algarve, the Angolan girlfriend and their daughter, in July 2010, was today sentenced to life imprisonment before the court, and his lawyer asked for acquittal .
The Munich Regional Court also considered that it was a 'particularly serious crime', which means that the accused will not be released after 15 years, the period that corresponds to the maximum sentence in Germany, as prosecutors had requested.

The defense had sought absolution for the murderer, who also cried, weeping, his innocence in closing arguments of his lawyer.

Gunnar Dorries, 45, was charged with murder of girlfriend Angolan Georgina Zito, 30, and their daughter, Alexandra Zito, a year and a half, in July 2010, in Canavial Beach, near Lagos.

According to the public prosecutor Elisabeth Ehrl, who praised, in closing arguments, cooperation with the Portuguese authorities, the defendant did not want to pay alimony to his girlfriend and daughter, and hid this relationship from the woman, who lived in Munich.

The child was playing on the beach when her mother drowned after fight Dorries in water, according to a witness Portuguese that was called to testify in Munich.

The defense tried to undermine the credibility of witnesses Portuguese, considering them "very contradictory", but the prosecution considered that they all "were very reliable and had no deliberate intention" to accuse the defendant, "who wanted to get rid of two witnesses nuisance from his past. "

Agents Portuguese Maritime Police and Judiciary Police also attended the trial to testify, and coroners Algarve, who did the autopsy on the body of the Angolan citizen, testified by video conference.

Dorries met Georgina in a musical concert in Stuttgart in 2006, and shortly thereafter, the Angolan immigrant became pregnant with Alexandra, her father only met on holiday in Portugal in 2010.

Portuguese and German police later ascertained that the suspect traveled to Portugal on 06 July, in the company of Georgina and Alexandra, and three housed in a hotel in Lagos.

The July 10, Georgina Dorries has dragged on for water Canavial Beach, where the drowned, simulating an accident, witnessed by Portuguese witnesses that will be called later to testify.

Hours later, arrived at the hotel and now without a daughter, on July 13, traveled to Lisbon, a rental car, then catching a plane to Munich.

On 15 July, a special command of German police arrested Dorries in her apartment in the Bavarian capital, based on a European arrest warrant issued by the Portuguese authorities.

Since then, the suspect was under custody in Munich.

In police interviews, Dorries refused to reveal the whereabouts of Alexandra, alleging that the child was alive and that he had entrusted to a couple of tourists in the Algarve.

However, the remains of the girl would eventually be found by fishermen in March 2011, on the Algarve coast near Sagres.

Due to the advanced state of decomposition of the body, the researchers were unable to determine the cause of death.

Dorries has planned murdering Georgina Alexandra and small when the Angolan woman required her to take over the paternity of the child, who was not willing to do.

So secretly traveled to Lagos in June 2010, preparing meticulously crime, prosecutors contended Munich.

According to the prosecution case, the engineer has told fellow German I had to go to Denmark on a business trip, to cover holidays Algarve.

Portugal came to seek the extradition of Dorries German authorities, but the application was rejected by the Regional Court of Munich, who opted to accept allowing Dorries to be tried at home, as he wished.

The trial began in March, and met several delays, due mainly to the efforts made by the defense.

Already after the process has started, the first session had to be canceled and repeated, because the court found that one of the two judges, jurors, of German nationality, but of Turkish origin, had sufficient knowledge of German to understand legal advice and doctors, with many technical terms.

Lusa / SOL

Thanks, Max.

It's a good thing he was tried in Germany, where he CAN be jailed for life, and not Portugal, with its maximum 25 years jail sentences, no matter how heinous the crime.

In Portugal, maximum prison sentence: 25 years, but, of course, that due to good behaviour, this time of prison sentence could be reduced, and in a few years, the criminal could be released, which is nonsense.

bb1, you´re right, I agree with you:

"Thanks, Max.

It's a good thing he was tried in Germany, where he CAN be jailed for life, and not Portugal, with its maximum 25 years jail sentences, no matter how heinous the crime."

Germany seems to be similar to the UK, Pedro, where people can spend the rest of their lives behind bars for particularly evil crimes.

Yes bb1, I agree with you, because that is what this type of criminals deserves, but without any type of comfort.