A German driver who killed five was handed a life sentence

• A German man has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering five people.
• A nine-week-old baby, her 45-year-old father, and three women from 25 to 73 were killed.
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• Several more people were hurt in the December 2020 attack in Trier.

A German man was sentenced to life in jail for speeding through a pedestrian area in the city of Trier, murdering five people.

A nine-week-old baby, her 45-year-old father, and three women from 25 to 73 were killed in the December 2020 attack. Several more people were hurt.

Bernd W, now 52, was also sentenced to receive psychiatric therapy since he had been drinking prior to the crimes.

The brother of one of the victims expressed “relief” that the trial was over.

“He’s going to sleep either in prison or in a psychiatric facility,” Wolfgang Hilsemer, his sister’s killer, told media.

He said that he was relieved “that’s the outcome.”

According to local media, W, whose last name cannot be revealed due to German privacy rules, was convicted of five charges of murder and 18 counts of attempted murder.

According to German network DW, a psychiatrist’s assessment given at the trial revealed he had paranoid schizophrenia.

The man’s lawyer stated that he was considering appealing the punishment.

At the time of the incident, German police stated they felt it was intentional, but they did not believe it was politically or religiously motivated.

During the rampage, which began about 13:45 local time (12:45 GMT) on December 1, the suspect drove for 1km (0.6 miles) before being stopped by a police car, according to Trier police spokesman Karl-Peter Jochem the next day.

Residents of Trier, a city of approximately 110,000 people in western Germany, were taken aback. A traditional Christmas market in the neighbourhood had been cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak, but shops remained open.

The incident reminded me of a 2016 attack in Berlin in which a hijacked truck was driven into a Christmas market, killing 12 people and wounding hundreds more.