Man on trial for bludgeoning his children with a hammer

Oct 14, 2009, 13:22 GMT

Kassel - A man who went on trial Wednesday for almost bludgeoning his three children to death with a hammer told the Kassel court he had planned to commit suicide.

'I was completely distraught after separating from my wife and a row over the custody of the children,' the 40-year-old said through his lawyer. 'I wanted to commit suicide, but did not want to leave the children without a father,' the man added.

His children, then aged three, five and seven, were critically injured after he allegedly hit them repeatedly over the head with a hammer. The boy and two girls survived the attack, against all odds.

After the attack, the unemployed man said he drove onto the motorway with the intention of driving the car into a roadside pillar to end his life.

'To this day, I don't understand why I lacked the courage to kill myself,' he said in a statement read to the court. Instead, he drove 300 kilometres back to Kassel and handed himself in to the police.

The members of the trial were shown a police video of the man's apartment, where he allegedly attacked his children as they were sleeping on the couch. The footage focused on stuffed toy animals, covered in blood.

Despite life-threatening head injuries, the children survived several hours until medical staff reached the scene.

One of the emergency doctors, Mechthild Diels, has spoken of her amazement as she tended to one of the girls.

'This little girl was lying in front of me and I was diagnosing: 'around 20 kilos, roughly four years old,' when the child opened her eyes and said, 'But I am five.' I was transfixed,' Diels said.

The trial was due to continue on Thursday, when the children's mother is to address the court on behalf of the three victims. Her lawyer is expected to demand a life sentence, but says the man could be placed in a secure mental institution.

'It can't be ruled out that the man is deemed not to have been responsible for his actions,' the lawyer said of the accused, who had begun drinking after separating from his wife.

The trial is expected to last ten days, with a judgement due mid- November.