Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

A German court has convicted a teenage girl for failing to prevent her drunk boyfriend from stabbing her pregnant pal to death because she thought he was joking about his sick obsession to murder someone.

The case sparked widespread outrage after it was revealed that two men, aged 21 and 19, had killed the pregnant 18 year-old victim by stabbing her to death at her home in Zinnowitz, a small Baltic Sea beach resort in the north-eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

However, the 21-year-old man’s teen girlfriend, who has a child with Maria K.’s convicted killer Niko Goettlich, has been convicted because he repeatedly told her that he wanted to kill someone and on the night in question, he carried a knife with him while drunk.

The teen, however, said she thought it was all a sick joke.

A concerned friend found the 18-year-old pregnant victim, identified only as Maria K., stabbed to death on 19th March 2019.

Public prosecutor Marc Engelhardt told the youth court in the town of Stralsund on Germany’s Baltic coast that Niko Goettlich, 21, and Nicolas Knoop, 19, were guilty of ‘jointly killing out of a desire for murder and malice’.

The pair had been drinking in a local park and then tricked their way into Maria’s home by saying they wanted to borrow a phone charger.

As the victim went to get the pair a drink, she was stabbed in the neck and back by Knoop, and as she tried to defend herself was grabbed by Goettlich who held on to her legs so his friend could finish her off.

In total, she was stabbed 30 times before dying.

The duo then sprayed water over the area to wash away prints and clues before tossing their blood-stained clothes into the sea from a nearby bridge along with their mobile phones.

Nicolas Knoop, 19, was committed to a secure psychiatric institute and also sentenced to 12 years in a youth detention centre, while Niko Goettlich, 21, was jailed for life.

In Knoop’s case, the verdict means he will have to serve time in a youth detention centre if it is decided he no longer needs psychiatric care.

The court has now convicted Goettlich’s teenage girlfriend for obstruction of justice after she lied to protect him.

Reports provided no details of the sentence as the defendant was underage when the offence was committed. Her name has also been withheld for this reason.

The court heard how Goettlich often spoke about wanting to kill someone even though she did not take him seriously.

On the night in question, he reportedly told her what he was going to die while under the influence of alcohol, but she failed to believe him.

The court heard that if she had raised the alarm instead of remaining silent, her pregnant best friend may still be alive today.

The victim’s 47-year-old mother said after the verdict: “I am satisfied with the decision, but it will not bring back my daughter or my unborn grandchild.”

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