German man jailed for killing lover with Samurai sword

A 37-year-old man from the western German town of Herford was sentenced to six years behind bars by a German court on Friday for killing his girlfriend with a samurai sword in January 2021. 

According to prosecutors in the western city of Bielefeld, the couple got into an argument, which was reportedly about the woman's sex life, the day after the 42-year-old did not come home from a party.

As the argument escalated, the man stabbed her in the abdomen with a 75 centimeter (29.5 inch) samurai sword he had ordered online. The woman then bled to death. 

Prosecutors said the man committed the act in a fit of rage and jealousy. He recorded an extremely high blood alcohol level after the incident. 

In the man's statements to investigators, he acknowledged the crime, however, he said there were many gaps in his memory of the incident. 

According to the judges, the man had limited control of his faculties when he committed the crime, and was therefore convicted of manslaughter. The court also said both the man and the victim were alcoholics, and he would be ordered to be incarcerated at a rehabilitation facility. 

In January, a German court sentenced a 31-year-old Jordanian man to 14 years for the brutal murder of a man he lived with briefly. The court said he would be detained in a psychiatric hospital to undergo psychological therapy.

Last year, the man killed his former flatmate with a samurai sword in front of the victim's 12-year-old daughter.

dpa contributed to this report