A young woman on trial for stabbing her Badoo date in the neck has admitted to setting up the fatal date because she wanted to see somebody die.
The defendant, who has been named only as Sarah M., 19, due to strict local privacy laws, is believed to have wanted to emulate American serial killer Richard Ramirez.
Her trial is underway at the Bamberg Regional Court in the town of Bamberg in the north of the state of Bavaria in south-western Germany, with the second day of the trial taking place yesterday (Tuesday, 1st February).
She appeared in court for her latest hearing wearing ankle chains and handcuffs attached to her belt after she caused a disturbance during her previous hearing.
Her lawyer reportedly demanded that the handcuffs be removed, but even after judge Manfred Schmidt confirmed that she had been searched, he only approved for her right hand to be freed.
The defendant had said in her first detailed statement after the knife attack, which took place in May 2021: “I think it’s a pity that I only have to go to prison for attempted murder because I have planned much more.”
The victim Zeyed E. was reportedly lured by the defendant so she could cut his throat, and she had allegedly planned to kill more people because she wanted to become a serial killer like Richard Ramirez.
Her 39-year-old victim died at the University Hospital in Erlangen 19 days after the attack.
On the day of the crime, the victim picked Sarah M. up in his Ford Fiesta. The pair had met on the dating platform Badoo.
She reportedly then directed him down a dark bike path before allegedly attacking him with an Oakwood camping knife that she had bought just a few days prior at a hardware store for EUR 11.95 (GBP 10).
A witness named as Florian U., 37, was the first to arrive on the scene. He reportedly said: “The whole site was bloodstained. The most shocking thing was the fear of death in his gaze.”
He immediately called the emergency services, reportedly telling them that “a man is dying, a man is dying, right now”, the court heard.
Approximately 30 minutes later, the court also heard, a woman named as Stefanie G., 25, alerted the police nearby saying that a “girl with torn tights, without shoes and with blood on her cheek is running down the street”.
When she reportedly asked Sarah M. if she needed help, the defendant reportedly replied: “No, I’m a f*cking murderer.”
Stefanie G. later saw Sarah M. during her arrest. Stefanie G. said that the defendant was grinning at the time.
Police Chief Inspector Christian H., 45, testified: “The girl stood in front of us completely soaked. We asked what had happened. She said completely emotionlessly that she had just tried to kill someone. The first thing we did was point out to her that she had a right to refuse to testify.”
The police reportedly asked her if the man was her boyfriend, but, according to the chief inspector, she replied that she “just wanted to cut his throat, she wanted to see a person die”.
According to chief public prosecutor Michael Hoffmann, Sarah M. is believed to have acted in tribute to American serial killer Ricardo ‘Richard’ Leyva Munoz Ramirez, who was convicted of thirteen counts of murder, five attempted murders, eleven sexual assaults, and fourteen burglaries in 1989.
Famously dubbed the ‘Night Stalker’, his crimes took place in the state of California in 1984 and 1985. He spent 28 years on death row before succumbing to liver failure at the age of 53 in 2013.
The public prosecutor believes the defendant wanted to garner the same notoriety as her role model Ramirez.
