Police in eastern Germany have arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion of killing his wife and young child
BERLIN — Police in eastern Germany say they have arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion of killing his wife and young child.
Zwickau police said Wednesday that the man, identified only as a German citizen, went to the emergency department of a local hospital overnight and told summoned officers that he had harmed his family.
Police later found his 43-year-old wife and 3-year-old child dead at the man’s home.
“According to current information, both were violently killed,” the local police said in a statement.
Human rights activists say more than 10 women are killed by their partners or ex-partners in Germany each month.
Some activists have called for judges to consider it an aggravating factor in sentencing if a defendant kills a partner who had wanted to leave a relationship.
Prosecutors in the northern town of Lueneburg said Wednesday they have indicted a 34-year-old man on three counts of murder and two counts of rape resulting in death for allegedly killing his partner and her two children, ages 4 and 11, in May.
The suspect, who wasn’t named, claimed to have had an argument with the woman before the slayings.