German Ticket Inspector attacked and killed

[Spandau]

Shocking news from the broadcaster Deutsche Welle:

.dw.com/en/germany-train-conductor-dies-after-attack-by-passenger/a-75797068

A train conductor has died after being attacked during a routine ticket inspection on a train near the southwestern German city of Kaiserslautern, the Süddeutsche Zeitungbroadsheet and other media reported on Wednesday.

The victim, named as 36-year-old Serkan C.*, was reportedly assaulted by a ticketless passenger on Monday night and beaten up so badly that he died of his injuries 24 hours later.

The alleged attacker, a 26-year-old man, was arrested at the scene and is being investigated on suspicion of manslaughter.

 

[Angmering1974]

Manslaughter?? Is that a mistranslation?

 

[StephenHunter]

Manslaughter?? Is that a mistranslation?

There's different murder offences in German criminal law. "Totschlag", translated as "manslaughter" is their equivalent of second-degree murder.

German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch – StGB)

Section 211
Murder under specific aggravating circumstances (Mord)

(1) Whoever commits murder under the conditions of this provision incurs a penalty of imprisonment for life.

(2) A murderer under this provision is someone who kills a person

out of a lust to kill, to obtain sexual gratification, out of greed or otherwise base motives,

perfidiously or cruelly or by means constituting a public danger or

to facilitate or cover up another offence.

table of contents

Section 212
Murder (Totschlag)

(1) Whoever kills a person without being a murderer under the conditions of section 211 incurs a penalty of imprisonment for a term of at least five years.

(2) In especially serious cases, the penalty is imprisonment for life.

table of contents

Section 213
Less serious case of murder

Whoever kills a person under the conditions of section 212 without any fault on their own part on account of being provoked to rage by ill-treatment of or serious insult to themselves or a relative by the person killed and being immediately carried away by that rage to commit the offence, or in the event of an otherwise less serious case, the penalty is imprisonment for a term of between one year and 10 years.

 

[Gloster]

Neither Süddeutsche Zeitung nor Rhein-Zeitung mentions what charges the passenger is facing. They just say he is under arrest.

 

[D1511]

From Railtech......link here
Railtech Article

Deutsche Bahn CEO Evelyn Palla expressed shock after the tragic incident: “I am stunned and saddened by this tragic death.” Palla condemns the senseless violence and said that it is “a black day for all railway workers in the country”.

The suspect, who was travelling alone, could not produce a ticket and was asked to show identification and then leave the train at the next stop. The 26-year-old suspect then attacked the conductor with several forceful punches to the head, knocking him unconscious. According to the preliminary autopsy results, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage as a result of significant blunt force trauma to the head. The 26-year-old suspect, a Greek citizen who says to be residing in Luxembourg, was arrested at the scene, according to the Zweibrücken Public Prosecutor’s Office, which issued the arrest warrant. He has no prior convictions or police records in Germany.

DB’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Martin Seiler, said in Berlin Wednesday afternoon that the train conductor had acted “exemplarily”, reported Stern. He tried to de-escalate the situation but offered no resistance. “We are all mourning Serkan,” Seiler added.

 

[30907]

There's different murder offences in German criminal law. "Totschlag", translated as "manslaughter" is their equivalent of second-degree murder.

....which exists in US law but not in England and Wales.

 

[StephenHunter]

....which exists in US law but not in England and Wales.

We had a distinction between capital and non-capital murder from 1957 to 1964.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

I'm not sure that the German equivalent of manslaughter is the biggest issue here.

This was a shocking attack, which led DB to hold a minute's silence the next day and to launch a national appeal for funds for the victim's family. The new CEO has been very visibly publicly to condemn what has happened and something like this taking place is very rare in Germany.

Germany is not normally thought of as a violent country, so this attack has struck a raw nerve.

All those who deal with the travelling public day in and day out are of course always concerned about violence and the challenge will be to ensure that the absence of staff, particularly in the evenings and later in the night, does not lead to significant drop in usage and, in effect handing the railway over to thugs in the way in the New York's subway in the 1970s and 80s went. That took a couple of decades to recover from.

 

[Cowley]

There’s an update to the case here:

https://www.luxtimes.lu/luxembourg/ten-year-sentence-for-fatal-attack-on-german-train-conductor/158548296.html

A Luxembourg resident has been sentenced to ten years in prison for attacking the conductor on a regional train in Germany last February.The conductor died as a result of the attack. The Zweibrücken Regional Court convicted the 26-year-old Greek national for grievous bodily harm that resulted in death.

The victim, 36-year-old Serkan Çalar, died two days after the attack from a brain haemorrhage caused by severe head injuries. The incident took place on Regional Express 4131 travelling towards Koblenz on 2 February.

The court found that Ioanni V. attacked Çalar during a ticket inspection after being asked to show a valid travel document. The prosecution had argued for a 12-year sentence and described the assault as a “completely senseless outburst” over a minor issue.

The defendant had admitted carrying out the attack but denied intending to kill the conductor. In a statement read by his lawyer at the start of the trial, he accepted responsibility and apologised for what he called “an inexcusable act and a moment of blind rage”.