A Danish inventor was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for murdering a Swedish journalist aboard his homemade submarine.
Peter Madsen sat motionless and looked down at the desk in front of him as the verdict was read.
Judge Anette Burkoe and two jurors unanimously convicted him of killing and dismembering Kim Wall, 30, last August after inviting her on board his 60-foot UC3 Nautilus for an interview. They also found him guilty of sexual assault and defilement of a corpse.
“It is the court’s assessment that the defendant killed Kim Wall,” Burkoe told the packed courtroom. “We are talking about a cynical and planned sexual assault and brutal murder of a random woman, who in connection with her journalistic work had accepted an offer to go sailing in the defendant’s submarine.”
The judge added that Madsen cut up Wall’s body and tossed it overboard in order to “conceal the evidence from the crime he had committed.”
Wall was last seen waving to her boyfriend after boarding the submarine Aug. 10 to report on a story about Madsen, well known in Denmark for raising money to build rockets and submarines.
Her dismembered torso was found days later at sea off Copenhagen and other body parts were found in weighted bags in October.
Madsen admitted to dismembering Wall but his story flip-flopped as to how she died. On the stand, he claimed the freelance journalist died from breathing toxic fumes that had built up in the sub.
During the 12-day trial, which was spread over seven weeks, prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen accused Madsen, 47, of torturing Wall as part of his violent sexual fantasies. They also showed evidence that the inventor kept disturbing videos of women being tortured and killed on his computer.
In his closing arguments Monday, the prosecutor said the case was “so terrible and disgusting that you as a prosecutor have no words to describe it.”
He ripped Madsen’s credibility as “not only low, it is non-existent.”
Wall either died from being strangled or having her throat cut, the prosecutor said, though her exact cause of death has never been established.
Madsen’s lawyer Betina Hald Engmark argued that he should be acquitted of murder and only be sentenced for the lesser charge of cutting up Wall’s body.
Madsen plans to appeal. He’ll be kept in prison during that process.
NY Post.
Peter Madsen sat motionless and looked down at the desk in front of him as the verdict was read.
Judge Anette Burkoe and two jurors unanimously convicted him of killing and dismembering Kim Wall, 30, last August after inviting her on board his 60-foot UC3 Nautilus for an interview. They also found him guilty of sexual assault and defilement of a corpse.
“It is the court’s assessment that the defendant killed Kim Wall,” Burkoe told the packed courtroom. “We are talking about a cynical and planned sexual assault and brutal murder of a random woman, who in connection with her journalistic work had accepted an offer to go sailing in the defendant’s submarine.”
The judge added that Madsen cut up Wall’s body and tossed it overboard in order to “conceal the evidence from the crime he had committed.”
Wall was last seen waving to her boyfriend after boarding the submarine Aug. 10 to report on a story about Madsen, well known in Denmark for raising money to build rockets and submarines.
Her dismembered torso was found days later at sea off Copenhagen and other body parts were found in weighted bags in October.
Madsen admitted to dismembering Wall but his story flip-flopped as to how she died. On the stand, he claimed the freelance journalist died from breathing toxic fumes that had built up in the sub.
During the 12-day trial, which was spread over seven weeks, prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen accused Madsen, 47, of torturing Wall as part of his violent sexual fantasies. They also showed evidence that the inventor kept disturbing videos of women being tortured and killed on his computer.
In his closing arguments Monday, the prosecutor said the case was “so terrible and disgusting that you as a prosecutor have no words to describe it.”
He ripped Madsen’s credibility as “not only low, it is non-existent.”
Wall either died from being strangled or having her throat cut, the prosecutor said, though her exact cause of death has never been established.
Madsen’s lawyer Betina Hald Engmark argued that he should be acquitted of murder and only be sentenced for the lesser charge of cutting up Wall’s body.
Madsen plans to appeal. He’ll be kept in prison during that process.
NY Post.
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