Five months after a fatal attack on a train conductor, the Zweibrücken Regional Courtfound the defendant guilty of assault resulting in death and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
A routine ticket inspection on a regional train in Rhineland-Palatinate in February proved fatal for 36-year-old train conductor Serkan Calar.
The 24-year-old defendant was traveling without a ticket and refused to show his ID. When Calar asked him to leave the train and lightly touched him in the process, the defendant struck Calar so violently in the head with his fists that the conductor died two days later in the hospital from a brain hemorrhage.
Footage from the train's surveillance camera was shown during the trial.
The victim's family considers the guilty verdict too lenient and intends to have it reviewed by the Federal Court of Justice. Their attorney, Yalcin Tekinoglu, said the family is not solely concerned with a harsher sentence. Rather, he said, the verdict must send a clear message against the increasing violence towards public transport employees.Germany: Front-line workers face growing abuse, violenceTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
