German man sentenced for poisoning wife with cinnamon roll

A 39-year-old Bavarian man was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to six years and three months in jail on Thursday for the poisoning  his wife and her mother.

The Nuremberg District Court in Fürth said that despite the man's claim that he only sought to temporarily incapacitate the woman, he should have been aware that his actions could kill her. Thus the court ignored pleas for a light sentence by the man's defense attorneys.

What happened?

The IT technician from the city of Erlangen admitted to mixing sleeping pills into a homemade cinnamon roll that he served his wife — from whom he is separated — claiming that he had done so in order to have a longer visit with their son.

The presiding judge, however, cited a toxicology report that found lethal amounts of drugs in the baked good.  The woman survived because she ate only half of the baked good, according to a report by the DPA news agency.

The judge said that the man left the woman to her fate, thus accepting the fact that she could die, according to broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR). 

Both the woman and her mother, who ate part of the roll later, were admitted to a local hospital and treated for poisoning. The mother-in-law became so ill that she had to be put on an artificial respirator and was close to death.

Drug rehab before prison

Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence the man, who is psychologically unstable and has a drug addiction, to nine years for attempted murder, whereas defense attorneys argued for a conviction on the lesser charge of attempted grievous bodily harm.

Ultimately, he was sentenced on both charges as well as for illegal possession of narcotics. The court ordered the man undergo drug rehabilitation before being sent to prison.