On trial in Zurich Triple murderer has "sheer desire to kill"

A 47-year-old Spaniard who allegedly killed three people is on trial in Zurich. The accused denies the accusations with adventurous explanations.

Keystone-SDA

02.12.2025, 09:52

02.12.2025, 19:39

SDA

The 47-year-old Spaniard, who allegedly killed three people in Zurich and Laupen BE, denied all the charges in court on Tuesday - with adventurous explanations. The public prosecutor is calling for his imprisonment.

The Zurich public prosecutor spoke of an "almost unbearable cruelty". The murder of the three people in Zurich and Laupen was brutal. Empathy was completely lacking in this accused.

According to the indictment, the Spaniard killed the 56-year-old psychologist, with whom he had been receiving treatment for a short time, with 14 stab wounds. He allegedly killed his ex-neighbors in Laupen, an elderly couple, with 30 axe or hammer blows.

"It was a bloodbath", said the public prosecutor about the Laupen crime scene. Parts of the woman's skull were found on the cellar stairs, brain matter and teeth on the carpet. "It was a sheer desire to kill." In both cases, he was probably initially looking for valuables.

Life sentence plus custody

The public prosecutor therefore wants to see the scaffolder behind bars for life. The Spaniard should then be kept in custody because there is a high risk of recidivism. For the sake of completeness, the public prosecutor is also demanding a twelve-year ban from the country.

For him, it is clear that the accused is the perpetrator. "It is virtually impossible that someone else is responsible for these DNA traces at both crime scenes."

The police found plenty of traces: in the psychologist's practice, they were found on the treatment table, on the sweater and under the fingernails of the deceased. At the crime scene in Laupen, his DNA was found on the pants of the slain senior citizen, for example, because he had allegedly dragged him through the apartment by his legs.

Explanations all "alien to life"

It remains to be seen what strategy the lawyer will pursue. The trial will not continue until Thursday. During questioning on Tuesday, the defendant was willing to provide information - but denied everything and presented adventurous explanations.

He explained that his DNA was found at both crime scenes by saying that he had helped the neighbor to assemble a wooden table in the apartment. It could be that he had touched his leg.

He had probably met the psychologist, in whose new practice rooms he had never been treated, on the street and she had invited him for a coffee. However, he was unable to explain why his earprint was found on the practice door. He was not listening.

He even put forward the theory that someone else might have worn his clothes and spread the DNA at the crime scene. He suffered from psoriasis. The public prosecutor described all of his explanations as "alien to life".

First mass DNA test in Switzerland

What is unusual about this case is the very long investigation period of almost fourteen years. It was not until 2024 that the man was arrested at Geneva airport on arrival from Spain.

The main reason for this is that the mass DNA test, the first in Switzerland, produced no results after the murder of the psychologist. And this despite the fact that all patients and ex-patients were supposed to have their cheeks swabbed.

The public prosecutor's office is now convinced that the accused did not have a swab taken at the time, but sent another man in his place. Otherwise the scaffolder would have been found out after the first murder.

It was never possible to find out who "lent" the accused his DNA. The defendant's theory is that the authorities made a mistake and mixed up the samples.