vThe trial of Janos M. continued on Friday at the Regensburg District Court. The state prosecutor accuses him of pouring hot oil on his estranged wife in the presence of their two children. He wanted to take revenge on her because of the planned divorce, to exercise his exclusive right over her and make her unattractive to other men.
The alleged attack took place on May 12, 2023 in Regenstauf, a small town in the district of Regensburg. At 14:25, her husband Daria M. brought the children to her for contact. He is said to have started heating the oil about an hour and a half earlier. According to the indictment, the defendant knew that “pouring oil on him was specifically capable of endangering the lives of those injured.”
Stumbled on the stairs
On Friday, the third of eleven scheduled trials, the presiding judge read the trial judge's minutes. Janos M. told him one day after the incident that it was an accident. Holding the pot, she tripped on the stairs. Before she brought the children to him, he fried french fries. He wanted to take the pot of oil outside and put it next to the trash can to harden. There was a pot out of the children's reach. It's not unusual for “the trash to be taken out when the kids are handed over.” The other day “it might have been a yogurt cup” fell.
Daria M. was seriously injured by the oil. The medical examiner in court on Friday explained 16 percent of her skin surface, especially on her face, neck and nape. The injuries on the right side of the neck and behind the right ear correspond to third and therefore the most severe burns. The cornea of one eye was also burned. The medical examiner assessed Daria M.'s injuries as “particularly life-threatening” in general.
From what height was the oil poured?
On Friday, it was also discussed from which height and direction the oil was poured and how it hit Daria M.'s body. This issue is of particular concern to the defendant's two defense attorneys, who consider Daria M.'s testimony contradictory. Since the beginning of the trial, they have repeatedly referred to the video interview of Daria M., where she makes a movement with her hands as if Janos M. poured oil on her from above. However, during the second interrogation, he presented the incident differently.
According to the medical examiner, the fact that “the soft tissues of the face are almost homogeneously affected, but not in the back of the neck” speaks against casting from above. He ruled out that the oil was poured from below – waist height or lower – because then “the floor of the mouth would suffer the most”, which was not the case with Daria M..
The court will continue hearing the matter in the entrance area of Janos M.'s apartment on May 12, 2023. A physicist and a biomechanist have been invited to reconstruct what happened on February 23.
The case and its history raises the question of whether it is an attempt at femicide. If you follow the prosecution and Daria M.'s testimony on the first day of the trial, Janos M.'s actions correspond to the typical characteristics of such actions: After separation, the risk of being killed by the ex-partner increases. women. The father can use the interaction with the children to gain even more control over the mother. A man's drive is often misunderstood as a claim of ownership, i.e., the assumption that if he can't “own” a woman, neither can anyone else.