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The poisoner supermarket, shown here during a court hearing in Ravensburg, Germany, was found guilty of attempted murder.
Marijan Murat / picture alliance via Getty Image
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Marijan Murat / picture alliance via Getty Image
The poisoner supermarket, shown here during a court hearing in Ravensburg, Germany, was found guilty of attempted murder.
Marijan Murat / picture alliance via Getty Image
A German court has been sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison on charges of attempted murder and attempted disappearance.
According to local media, the 54-year-old man was sentenced in Ravensburg, located in southern Germany, on the scheme he confessed to last year.
"The man was admitted to the market of foodstuffs in the city of Friedrichshafen, on Lake Constance, in an attempt to force the companies involved to 11.75 million ($ 13.5 million) to identify them," Deutsche Welle reported.
The man's name has not been released to local laws.
The jars were laced with ethylene glycol, a colorless and odorless liquid that is used in antifreeze. According to the CDC, the substance "has a sweet taste and is often accidentally or intentionally ingested." It can be fatal to humans.
The chief prosecutor in the case, Peter Vobiller, said the amount in each of the jars could kill a child, according to DW. "The broadcaster reported, citing Vobiller.
Vobiller said, "The fact that no child was harmed was the result of police work," and "a good portion of luck, to be honest."
According to German news agency DPA, authorities started investigating last year after somebody "sentenced in mid-September to food companies, consumer protection groups and even to the police in which the writer threatened to manipulate food products in Germany and abroad unless paid companies up. "
These emails are poisoned as many as 20 types of food, DPA reported.
The news agency says hundreds of people called in tips to the police on a special hotline and that they found more ethylene glycol at the man's residence. Aside from money, it's not clear what was motivating the convicted poisoner.
During the trial, according to the BBC, the accused man "also claimed to have a borderline personality disorder and said that he consumed alcohol and painkillers at the time of his actions."
However, the court did not accept that defense. The broadcaster adds that "a psychiatrist concluded that he was well enough to be held responsible for his crimes."
The perpetrator must decide within a week on whether to appeal the sentence, local media reports, and that it is not yet clear what he plans to do.
