Commuter killing
February 8, 2010
In its latest edition, published on Monday, German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported that evidence suggests that businessman Dominik Brunner threw the first punch in a altercation with the two youths who allegedly went on to beat him to death on a commuter train platform near the southern city of Munich on September 12, 2009.
The report also said that Brunner had had at least a year's training at a boxing school.
In a case that sparked heated debate on juvenile crime in Germany, the businessman, who was riding a commuter train stepped in to defend a group of four teenagers, all between the ages of 13 and 15, who were being harassed for money by three older youths aged 17 and 18.
Brunner, 50, called the police from his mobile phone, and offered to accompany the beleaguered four when he reached his destination.
However, once they got off the train, the older teens continued to bully the younger ones. According to earlier reports, when Brunner attempted to intervene, two of the older youths punched and kicked him till he lay unconscious on the platform. He later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
rb/APN/dpa
Editor: Chuck Penfold