WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - Three American teenagers went on trial in the German city of Darmstadt for throwing stones from a pedestrian’s bridge on a busy highway, killing two German women.
They appeared in court on Friday to face charges of murder, attempted murder and interfering with traffic. Their names could not be disclosed for legal matters.
The 14-, 17- and 18-year olds were arrested and put in jail last February after the police put out a $5000 reward in equivalent German currency for their arrest.
Last May, the teenagers were formally charged with the crime. German officials said they confessed to throwing stones on motorists after getting the bulky stones from a nearby school.
Prosecutors also said that this was not their first attempt, and that they have throwing smaller stones from bridges before this incident.
Two German women - one 21-year-old and the other 41-year-old and a mother of two - died while they driving their cars under the bridge, a total of six cars were damaged.
The fathers of the accused teenagers are servicemen working with the U.S. military base stationed near the city. The event has soured U.S.-German relations for sometime.
German residents of the city and nearby town expressed their shock for the unjustified violence of the teenagers, and military officials feared that the incident might affect other American teens’ presence in Germany.
It was reported that Heinz-Joachim Ottmann, the father of Sandra Ottmann, who was killed when one of the stones smashed through the windshield of her BMW, told reporters before the beginning of the trial that the attack was inexcusable.
“They will not get the prison term they deserve, but I hope that they will face the maximum sentence at the end of the trial,” Ottmann said.
