A man accused of shooting his parents and sister in the head with a crossbow and finishing them off with a machete buried them in a field and then partied with friends, a court has heard.

Accused Andreas S., 27, met up with friends just eight days after the last brutal execution without a trace of remorse, Rostock Regional Court, northern Germany, heard on 30th November.

His friends, whose identities have been withheld due to local privacy laws, said that Andreas S. partied with them on 18th February.

At the time, they knew nothing about the killings, with the defendant’s father and sister already dead for 12 days by that point and his mother dead for eight days.

One of his former friends, 27, reportedly said: “Everything was normal. He was always cheerful and in a good mood.”

Andreas S. is said to have begun the grim slaughter at the family home in Roevershagen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state, on 7th February.

The court was told how he first killed his sleeping 52-year-old father – also called Andreas – by firing four crossbow bolts into the back of his head before slashing his neck with a machete.

The court heard that the crossbow bolts went through his head and out the other side but given that, his father was still apparently alive.

Andreas S. then got a machete from the garden shed to finish him off, said prosecutors.

Prosecutors say he next killed his 25-year-old sister Diana just hours later after luring her to the house claiming he had a surprise for her.

Andreas S. is said to have made her kneel down in the hall and wear opaque glasses and earmuffs so as not to spoil the surprise.

Then he allegedly shot her three times in the head with the crossbow and stabbed her in the chest, piercing her heart and lungs, catching the blood in a plastic pond liner.

Finally, four days later (on 11th February) the accused collected his mother Larissa from the railway station and brought her home.

Again he told her he had a surprise and persuaded her to wear the glasses before allegedly firing a crossbow bolt into her head and finishing her off with the machete, the court will hear.

The 27-year-old witness who told the court about the partying said that he was frequently in touch with the defendant between February and March.

Previously, in late 2021, he had seen footage showing the defendant firing crossbow bolts into a metal box or car door, which they pierced.

After allegedly murdering his family, Andreas S. then built DIY coffins and allegedly used an industrial digger to excavate graves in a field 12 kilometres (1.2 miles) away, near the Koesterbeck nature reserve, on 28th February.

He was arrested in March and an early confession to the triple murder has since been withdrawn, according to local media.

It is understood that there was no diminished responsibility. It is still currently unclear why the defendant allegedly murdered his family.

His girlfriend, who has not been named but who was also friends with his dead sister, said that Andreas S. was “funny and always great to be with”, adding that they regularly went out to dinner together.

Andreas S.’ s mother’s boss said she failed to show up for work on 14th February and that her son called him to say she had left home with two suitcases.

The boss said: “It was a strange situation for me.”