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German admits to killing two Italians in football row

20 January 2011 18:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A German on trial for shooting and killing two Italians after a football row during last year’s World Cup admitted Thursday to the deed and told the court he regretted his actions, APA reports quoting Earth Times.

"I realize that I have inflicted barely imaginable suffering upon the families," the 42-year-old said in a statement read by his lawyer as the trial opened in the northern city of Hanover.

The defendant, identified only as Holger B, is accused of murdering the Italian men by shooting them in the head in a bar in Hanover’s red-light district after an argument on whether Germany or Italy had won more World Cup titles.

The defendant said he barely remembered the deed, as he had been drinking alcohol and taking medication during the previous hours. His only recollection was "the sound of three gun shots."

He had left the bar in the early hours, after other customers had separated him from the Italians during their heated row, but returned 20 minutes later armed with a gun.

"He stood in the door and shouted, ’Come on Pippo, we’ll clear this up now’," the bar’s landlady testified in court.

The victims, a 47-year-old cook and a 49-year-old pizza chef, would not have expected an attack on their lives after the man left, the prosecutor said.

"So much for your four stars," Holger B said - in a reference to the four World Cup victories decorating Italian football shirts - as he shot the first man, the publican told the court.

When the second man pleaded for the shooting to stop, the accused fired two bullets in the rear of his head and his back, the prosecution said.

The incident happened last July, in the middle of the football World Cup. The accused, who is retired, then fled to the island of Mallorca, where his stepfather lived. There, he turned himself in to the police.

Holger B entered the courtroom in a hooded jumper and baseball cap and sat impassively throughout the proceedings. His victims were men he had met at random in the all-night bar where they sat drinking into the early hours.

"I wonder how it could happen that I was able to kill two people. I am still at a loss," he wrote in his testimony.

He had allegedly acquired the gun from the apartment of his deceased foster mother, as he had previously considered committing suicide.

Family members of the victims - including two brothers who had travelled up from Sicily - were fraught as they followed the trial.

"This trial is important for them, in order to process what happened," said a lawyer on their behalf.

The court must now ascertain whether the defendant, who has a history of depression and mental instability, can claim diminished responsibility for the deed.