German couple sentenced to life term imprisonment for killing Ukrainians

A German couple who confessed to killing a Ukrainian refugee and her mother last year in order to steal a newborn baby was sentenced to life in prison on Monday.

The Mannheim District Court in south-western Germany determined the incident involved a particular severity of guilt, meaning the pair are unlikely to be released even after 15 years in prison.

Last month, on the first day of the trial, the couple admitted to killing the 27-year-old Ukrainian woman and her 51-year-old mother in order to abduct the younger woman's 5-week-old baby.

The accused told the court that after suffering a number of miscarriages and failed fertility treatment, they hatched a plan to kidnap a newborn girl and pass her off as their daughter.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the couple have a total of four children, including one son together. The 45-year-old woman and her 43-year-old husband are from Sandhausen, near Heidelberg.

"I regret everything I have done," the man said in a statement read out by lawyers on January 7. His wife added, "I made a big mistake."

The prosecution has brought charges of murder and child abduction.

Ukrainian refugees targeted

The couple intentionally targeted refugees from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, joining a group on Telegram to offer help with translation, prosecutors said.

The younger Ukrainian woman was living with her mother and baby in refugee accommodation in the south-western German town of Wiesloch when she came into contact with the couple.

On March 6, 2024, they allegedly sedated the two Ukrainian refugees in a restaurant before the man killed them with a blunt object in two separate locations. They sank the grandmother's body in a lake and burnt the mother's body before driving home with the baby.

The body of the 27-year-old woman was discovered by a passer-by on the banks of the Rhine the next day, with police arresting the couple and finding the baby on March 13.

The baby has been returned to Ukraine and is in the custody of her aunt.