He arrived laughing and joking. Just over two hours later Armin Meiwes, the self-confessed German cannibal who killed and ate another man, left a stunned courtroom scarcely able to believe his luck. After a unique two-month trial that has gripped both Germany and the wider world with its gory details, a judge yesterday sentenced Meiwes to a mere eight and a half years in jail after ruling that he was guilty of manslaughter and not murder.
The prosecution had demanded a 15-year-term. But Judge Volker MÃŒtze said he accepted the cannibal’s argument that the man he met through the internet and later fried in garlic - 43-year-old computer engineer Bernd JÃŒrgen Brandes - had wanted to die. "The famous lust for murder was not there. The killing was very unpleasant for Meiwes," the judge said... The cannibal’s lawyer, Harald Ermel, said his client was "satisfied" with the result, and was now considering numerous offers from film companies and publishers. With good behaviour, Meiwes was likely to be free in four and a half years, Mr Ermel pointed out. He would probably write his memoirs. There was no reason why he should not eventually return home to the timbered farmhouse in Rotenburg, central Germany, where he cut up and refrigerated bits of Brandes, burying his skull in the garden, the lawyer said. "He isn’t a murderer," he added. "He has to live." ... Last night Meiwes’ lawyer said it was unlikely his client would eat anyone else. "He certainly won’t repeat it," he said. Miewes had been in jail for a year. He was now a polite, popular prisoner who helped others and wrote their letters, he added. |