17 instead of 15 years Man shot and dumped in lake - perpetrator must spend even longer in prison

Mafia murder, contract killing or an innocent man after all? The Thurgau High Court will hear the Barchetsee case on Thursday. The main defendant, who has already been convicted, is filing an appeal.

In 2007, a man (27) was found dead in Lake Barchet in the canton of Thurgau. Investigators were initially unable to find any suspects and the case became a cold case. It was not until years later that the police were able to catch several suspects.

In 2024, one man is acquitted and another is sentenced to 15 years in prison for murder. On Thursday, the convicted man stands trial again. He has lodged an appeal.

The accused is said to have killed a man from Egypt with an accomplice. The victim's wife is said to have hired the two accused to kill her husband. According to the indictment, he was a nuisance to her and allegedly beat her.

The accused and his accomplice then allegedly lured the victim to the edge of a forest. There they shot the victim five times. According to the indictment, the first shot was fired from behind through the back while the victim was urinating on a tree.

This was followed by further shots. The perpetrators then allegedly loaded the body into the victim's car and drove to Lake Barchet.

On site, the perpetrators mounted a concrete pillar on the body and dumped it in the lake. The body was found by the tenant.

Defense lawyer demands acquittal

The accused is only questioned briefly by the judge on Thursday. This is followed by the defense lawyer's two-hour plea: "We are sticking to an acquittal," he says at first.

Cold case in ThurgauMan shot and dumped in lake - perpetrator on trial

The defense lawyer wants to make it clear to the court that the course of events could not have taken place in this way. An expert found that the first bullet had entered the thigh and not the back. "The victim and the perpetrators had to face each other for this," says the lawyer.

Did the accused even have a motive?

The lawyer also explained that his client ran a restaurant at the time and worked in the evenings. He was therefore unable to leave the restaurant during the time of the crime.

The lawyer also says that his client had no motive. Although he knew the victim and his wife, it is not clear what advantage the accused could have gained by murdering the victim.

The crime was in fact the work of the mafia, emphasized the defence lawyer. The exposed lower body, the concrete slab, the shot to the head and the victim's links to drug and human trafficking speak for this, according to the defendant's lawyer. Meanwhile, his client sits calmly at the table.

"The defense attorney has a talent for creating confusion"

The judge now gives the prosecutor the floor. The public prosecutor pleads guilty to murder. The defendant should be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Then the prosecutor says: "The defense attorney has a talent for creating confusion in his two-hour presentation. And sometimes, for a brief moment, I even believed what he was saying."

Then the public prosecutor picks up the indictment. He goes into the individual events of the crime. Then he says: "In the opinion of the public prosecutor's office, there is serious culpability."

The accused had acted unscrupulously. In addition, he showed no remorse and his statements to the authorities and undercover investigators were contradictory in parts, but he still had knowledge of the crime that only the perpetrator could have had.

The court reaches a verdict

After several hours of deliberation, the court decides: the sentence is not reduced, but actually increased. The defendant is sentenced to 17 years in prison for murder. The two years already served will be credited to the accused.

The court came to the conclusion that the confession to the undercover investigators was evidence of insider knowledge. The court also found a certain unscrupulousness.