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Irish man gets life for Swiss murder

A court in the Irish capital, Dublin, has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for the murder of a young Swiss woman in 2007.

The jury brought in a guilty verdict on Saturday against the 29 year-old man from the town of Galway, after a trial which started on March 9.

The victim, a 17 year-old student from canton Bern, had arrived in Galway for a language course only three days before she was killed.

The court heard that she had been strangled. Her body was found in an area of wasteland.

The accused, having initially denied killing her, said earlier this week that the killing was a mistake. He claimed she had died when he tried to hold her back after they had had consensual sex.

The man already had a serious of previous convictions for assault.

After the verdict the victim’s father said he hoped the killer would never be released.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR