Couple sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for murder of two Ukrainian women

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by DW.

The court determined that the couple intended to pass off the child of one of the victims as their own. It also established the exceptional severity of their crime.

This ruling means that early release after serving 15 years in prison is practically impossible for the convicted individuals.

However, the verdict can still be appealed.

At the beginning of the trial in January, both defendants admitted to the crimes in statements read by their lawyers and expressed remorse.

The man confessed to beating the two women to death with a rubber mallet.

According to the prosecution, the couple killed 51-year-old Ukrainian refugee Maryna Stetsenko and her 27-year-old daughter, Margarita, in order to take the latter’s child.

The murder was committed after the perpetrators secretly added psychotropic substances to the victims’ food.

It is believed that this happened during a dinner at a Chinese restaurant, where the perpetrators invited the victims under the pretense of celebrating a birthday.

As reported, investigators discovered the bodies in March 2024 near Hockenheim and Bad Schönborn, close to the Rhine River.

The victims were identified as a 27-year-old Ukrainian woman and her 51-year-old mother, who had been living with the five-week-old baby in a refugee shelter in the Rhein-Neckar district. The child was found unharmed in the home of the murderers.