Guilty verdict confirmed Bernese man strangled his wife because his affair was in danger of being exposed
A man from Bern has been found guilty of murdering his wife. The Bernese High Court confirmed a corresponding verdict. The crime was triggered by a new love affair.
22.10.2025, 20:50
SDA
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- A man from Bern was accused of killing his wife.
- In August 2024, he was convicted of the crime, which took place in December 2022, but lodged an appeal.
- The Bernese High Court has now confirmed the conviction.
- The court considers it proven that the man drugged and ultimately strangled his wife because he was looking for an escape from a love triangle.
- He had fallen in love again and lied to both his wife and his new love until the truth threatened to come to light.
- According to the court, he hoped to find a way out of the situation by murdering his wife disguised as suicide.
On Wednesday, the Bernese High Court sentenced a man to 20 years' imprisonment for the murder of his wife in Kehrsatz in December 2022. It thus confirmed the judgment of the lower court in full.
It had convicted the man, who had not confessed, in a circumstantial trial in August 2024. The defendant appealed against the guilty verdict. However, he then exercised his right to refuse to testify before the higher court.
The man is accused of killing his wife in mid-December 2022 in their marital home in Kehrsatz, Bern. The trainee paramedic is said to have administered the sedative Dormicum to the woman and then strangled her in her sleep.
Fear of losing face in the free church community
"The evidence simply gives a coherent overall picture," stated the president of the higher criminal court chamber on Wednesday in her reasons for the verdict. There were no insurmountable doubts about the perpetration of the accused.
The member of a free church had had an extramarital relationship and had not been able to decide between his wife and his new love and had not wanted to lose face in the free church either.
He had lied to both women and stalled instead of taking responsibility and coming clean. When his web of lies came under increasing pressure, the prospective paramedic eliminated his wife.
He then tried everything to make the crime appear to be the wife's suicide. For the High Court, the qualification of the crime as murder was undisputed, as was the long prison sentence.
Contradictory statements
The defendant had repeatedly become entangled in contradictions, the High Court also concluded. His DNA traces were found on the cable ties around the woman's neck at the fasteners and at the ends, but not those of his wife. When the dead woman was found, her hair and a blanket had been draped in an unnatural way.
Before the crime, the accused had also searched the internet for information on the sedative Dormicum and on strangling people. The High Court did not believe that he had done this as a prospective paramedic out of professional interest.
The President of the High Court concluded that there was nothing in the woman's surroundings to suggest a suicide, not even a short-circuit act. On the other hand, the accused had spread this theory, especially on the day of the crime.
Finally, a colleague at the ambulance on the day of the crime had also found the man's behavior so strange that he had informed the police. This was something that a good colleague would certainly not do lightly, the High Court concluded.
Charged with aggressive interrogation methods
The accused's defence lawyer had criticized the police's interrogation methods in particular at the start of the trial. His client had been put under pressure and prejudged. The President of the High Court Chamber acknowledged certain omissions in the proceedings. Corresponding interrogations and statements made by the man were therefore assessed as unusable.
Some of the investigators' questions were inappropriate, but this did not restrict the defendant's freedom of will and freedom of thought. Furthermore, the inappropriate questions had by no means run through the entire investigation. In addition, a certain degree of persistence in asking questions is required in such proceedings.
In his plea, the defense lawyer had demanded an acquittal for his client. There were insurmountable doubts about the man's culpability and sufficient evidence that the woman had committed suicide.
The defendant accepted the verdict on Wednesday, slumped over and partly in tears. It is not yet legally binding and can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. The defense lawyer had already hinted at this step in his plea, should his client also be convicted in the second instance.
