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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Danish inventor Peter Madsen, convicted of torturing and murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall last year, lost his appeal against his life sentence Wednesday, shortly after apologizing to the family of the victim.
The 47-year-old quietly listened to Judge Jan Uffe Rasmussen read the decision of the High Court of the East. Rasmussen said the high court had reached the same conclusion as the Copenhagen City Court, which sentenced Madsen to death in April, after finding him guilty of murder.
In Denmark, life imprisonment is on average 16 years, but may be extended if necessary. Madsen, 47, wanted a time-limited sentence, not an indefinite prison sentence.
The prosecutor argued that the life sentence should be upheld, stating that the motive was sexual and that the crime was planned.
"I am so sorry for Kim's relatives for what happened," Madsen told the panel of judges as he had received the last word.
Ingrid and Joachim Wall, the journalist's parents, were present in court.
In defending Madsen, attorney Betina Hald Engmark argued that her client "had a clean criminal record and that only one had been sentenced for murder".
"In comparable cases, the perpetrator has often committed moral crimes before," she said.
Madsen denies killing Wall, claiming that she accidentally died inside the submarine, but admitted to throwing her body parts into the Baltic Sea.
In April, the Copenhagen City Court sentenced Madsen for murder, sexual assault and dismemberment of Wall. The court unanimously decided that Madsen had lured Wall, 30, on his craft submarine with the promise of an interview.
Attorney Kristian Kirk said Mr. Wall could not escape and "probably asked for his life" while Madsen was performing "a sadistic, even inhuman sexual fantasy".
Kirk said that violent videos in which women had been tortured and killed had been found on Madsen's computer and stated that he had probably filmed the murder. He added that Madsen planned the murder and "just waited for a victim".
"I hope we will never see such a case again," Kirk said.
No video of Wall's murder was found.
"Kim Wall went straight into a death trap," Kirk said before looking at Madsen, who listened with his hands to the table: "I see no other pain than life."
The cause of Wall's death has never been established.
