COPY LINK

CRIME

Man sets pregnant wife on fire in cafe

German police have arrested a man after he allegedly set his pregnant wife on fire in a cafe in Dortmund. Both the woman and her unborn baby survived, but the attacker faces attempted murder charges.

Published: 26 November 2012 10:06 CET

Man sets pregnant wife on fire in cafe

Photo: DPA

The 51-year-old is thought to have poured flammable liquid over his 33-year-old wife, from whom he was separated, before setting her alight in the North Rhine-Westphalian city on Sunday evening.

Guests at the cafe managed to put the flames out, the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Monday, but the woman was seriously injured and rushed to a nearby hospital. A spokesman confirmed that neither she nor her baby were in a life threatening condition.

A police spokesman added that they did not know why the man attacked his wife but that they believed it was attempted murder.

As of yet, the Dortmund state prosecutor has not given out any further information and the suspect is being held in custody.

The Local/jcw

Germany in talks on further payout for 1972 Olympics victims

Ahead of the commemoration in September, relatives of the Israelis killed have indicated they are unhappy with what Germany is offering.

“Conversations based on trust are taking place with representatives of the victims’ families,” a German interior ministry spokesman told AFP when asked about the negotiations.

He did not specify who would benefit or how much money had been earmarked, saying only that any package would “again” be financed by the federal government, the state of Bavaria and the city of Munich.

On September 5th, 1972, eight gunmen broke into the Israeli team’s flat at the Olympic village, shooting dead two and taking nine Israelis hostage, threatening to kill them unless 232 Palestinian prisoners were released.

West German police responded with a bungled rescue operation in which all nine hostages were killed, along with five of the eight hostage-takers and a police officer.

An armed police officer in a tracksuit secures the block where terrorists held Israeli hostages at the Olympic Village in Munich on 5th September 1972. Photo: picture alliance / dpa | Horst Ossingert

The spokeswoman for the victims’ families, Ankie Spitzer, told the German media group RND that the amount currently on the table was “insulting” and threatened a boycott of this year’s commemorations.

She said Berlin was offering a total of €10 million including around €4.5 million already provided in compensation between 1972 and 2002 — an amount she said did not correspond to international standards.

“We are angry and disappointed,” said Spitzer, the widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer who was killed in the attack. “We never wanted to talk publicly about money but now we are forced to.”

RND reported that the German and Israeli governments would like to see an accord by August 15th.

The interior ministry spokesman said that beyond compensation, Germany intended to use the anniversary for fresh “historical appraisal, remembrance and recognition”.

He said this would include the formation of a commission of German and Israeli historians to “comprehensively” establish what happened “from the perspective of the year 2022”.

This would lead to “an offer of further acts of acknowledgement of the relatives of the victims of the attack” and the “grave consequences” they suffered.

Url copied to clipboard!