German soldier gets life term for killing 4 in rampage

A German soldier received a life sentence on Friday for the murder of three adults and the involuntary manslaughter of a child during a rampage in March last year, reported dpa.

The terms of the sentence, handed down by the court in the north-western town of Verden mean that the 33-year-old man is unlikely to be eligible for parole for at least 15 years.

The man had admitted the crime, which took place in the early hours of March 1 last year.

The court found that he had killed four people in two homes, all of them linked to his wife at the time. He shot his wife, from whom he had separated, her 30-year-old new partner, the partner's 55-year-old mother and his wife's 33-year-old friend, who was holding her own three-year-old daughter under a blanket at the time.

The soldier told the court that he had not seen the child under the blanket and had not intended to kill her.

The court accepted his testimony, finding him guilty of murder in three cases and of involuntary manslaughter in the case of the child.

The soldier told the court he had felt as though on deployment. He had been driven by problems in his marriage and by the fear he could lose his military career, he said.