Swiss child murderer Werner Ferrari dies in prison
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Swiss child murderer Werner Ferrari dies in prison
Werner Ferrari, convicted of multiple child murders, died on Friday morning in the Lenzburg correctional centre. The Swiss was 78 years old and had been ill for some time.
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Ferrari had been in the Lenzburg correctional centre since 1995 and was serving a life sentence, according to interior ministry. The Institute of Forensic Medicine at Aarau Cantonal Hospital confirmed the death.
Ferrari committed several child murders. He committed the first murder in August 1971 in the Basel region. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. After six years in prison, he was released in August 1979.
He was arrested in Olten in 1989. After his arrest, a series of child murders that had terrified Switzerland between 1980 and 1989 came to an end.
Ferrari was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995 in a purely circumstantial trial for five counts of child murder. He was also charged with the murder of schoolgirl Ruth Steinmann.
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Acquittal in appeal trial
Steinmann was sexually abused in May 1980 in a wooded area near Würenlos, canton Aargau, and then murdered. After his arrest in 1989, Ferrari confessed to four of the five murders, but always denied killing Ruth Steinmann.
On the basis of witness statements and new evidence, the Aargau High Court approved Ferrari’s appeal in 2003 and ordered the first instance to reassess the murder offence.
In April 2007, the Baden District Court found Ferrari not guilty of Steinmann’s murder. He was acquitted in this case. However, he remained in prison for the four other cases.
Adapted from German by AI/ts
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