Regional Court ruling: Eight years’ imprisonment for Wurzner for attempted murder

Following several months of proceedings, the Leipzig Regional Court has now found a man from Wurzen guilty of the attempted murder of his wife: it sentenced 62-year-old Steffen S. to a total of eight years’ imprisonment. His account of the events in July 2025 was disturbing.

It was on 18 July 2025, late on a Friday evening, when, according to the prosecution, Steffen S. is alleged to have pushed his wife down a flight of stairs at their home in Wurzen, strangled her with a towel and covered her airways with his hand.

Threatening, “I’ll show you what I do to women like you!”, the defendant is alleged to have attempted to tie the victim to a chair. Because neighbours were alerted by cries for help and began banging on the door, Steffen S. let go of the woman. She survived the incident with a traumatic brain injury as well as injuries to her arms, neck, shoulders and wrists.

Defendant denied intent to kill

But if that is how it unfolded, only one question remains: why all of this?

At the start of the trial in April 2026, Steffen S. had denied any intent to kill. He could not understand the charge of attempted murder, he had his lawyer explain.

The version of events he presented was bizarre and disturbing: according to him, he had intended to take his own life following a script that had been laid out in detail and meticulously planned. His wife was supposed to have watched him die after she had unexpectedly come home early, the defendant stated for the record. He therefore grabbed her and tried to restrain her on the chair. He also admitted that he wanted to stop her from screaming. The 62-year-old denied that he had tried to stuff a towel into the victim’s mouth.

The prosecution assumed the attempt at murder was motivated by base reasons

In contrast, the prosecution alleged that the defendant had not accepted the victim’s announcement that she wanted to separate and had therefore sought to punish her. At the start of the trial, Steffen S. had spent many hours – punctuated by sobs – describing his version of events, leaving out hardly a single detail: details of their relationship over the years, arguments, his suspicion that she was cheating on him, his serious illness several years ago, and his desire simply to do better after the breakdown of his first marriage.

Ultimately, the 16th Criminal Division did not accept Steffen S.’s denial of intent to kill: on 7 September, it sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment for attempted murder in conjunction with grievous bodily harm. This sentence was in line with the prosecution’s demand. According to court records, defence lawyer Daniel Luderer had pleaded for a fine – the exact amount of which was not specified – for intentional bodily harm and coercion.

The decision is not yet final, as the defence has since lodged an appeal. The Federal Court of Justice will therefore soon have to review the judgement for possible legal errors.

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