Swiss woman cleared of father's murder
A judge has said a 24-year-old woman acted in self-defence when she shot and killed her aggressive dad at their home in Oberrieden, near Zurich, two years ago.
The defendant, Fabianne Z., was indicted for murder with the public prosecutor calling for a seven-year prison sentence.
But the Horgen District Court cleared her of the charge on Thursday morning, instead granting her 7,585 francs ($8,600) in damages and 23,000 ($26,300) in compensation for personal suffering.
The judge said she believed the woman’s version when she recounted the events of October 1st 2009. Fabianne Z. told the court she feared for her life as her father screamed at her: “I am going to kill you”.
Her father, a former wrestler weighing 150 kg, blocked her path when she tried to escape his clutches.
Fabianne Z. then produced a gun and fired five times, hitting her 52-year-old father with four of the shots. One of the shots proved fatal, penetrating his right lung and causing major loss of blood.
“I just wanted to protect my life,” she said. According to the judge, her reaction was “reasonable and appropriate.”
Fabianne Z. explained that her upbringing was full of “violence, duplicity and fear”. Her father would often come home drunk and had a history of violence, she explained. It was because of this that she bought a weapon five months before the fatal shooting, she said.
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