The husband of Sylvia Auchter, killed by several stab wounds in November 2019 a few weeks after a complaint for domestic violence, was sentenced on Friday to 20 years in prison by the Strasbourg Assize Court, reports the Latest news from Alsace . A sentence less than the requisitions of the Advocate General, who had claimed 25 years.
“It’s deplorable, it’s clearly not enough,” responded Stella Guitton, the victim’s daughter. ” I am in shock. Of course the pain won’t bring my mother back, but that’s not normal. »
“If I hadn’t been drinking…”
Jacqui Walter, 61, was being prosecuted for spousal murder and facing life imprisonment. At the helm, he expressed regret and apologized to Stella Guitton.
“If I hadn’t been drinking, nothing would have happened. I deeply regret taking Sylvia’s life, no one deserves to die like this, I apologize to everyone,” he said.
Stabs to the neck, chest
During the investigation, and again at the start of the trial, he immediately admitted to having killed his then 40-year-old wife on the night of November 10 to 11, 2019 in Oberhoffen-sur-Moder ( Lower Rhine).
Drunk, he had stabbed him several times, causing four deep wounds in the neck and chest, after a violent altercation which had lasted “several minutes”, according to the medical examiner. The victim had “15 defense wounds” on the right hand, and 22 on the left hand.
“Toxic couple”
The debates revealed a “toxic couple”, two “dominant” characters, between whom the violence gradually “increased in power”, in the words of the Advocate General, Sébastien Pompey.
Three weeks before the murder, the victim had filed a complaint evoking “disputes and mild violence, as well as threats of damage” to a vehicle.
Believing that the murder had been “thoughtful and programmed”, Sébastien Pompey had requested a 25-year prison sentence.
Defense lawyer Sophie Schweitzer said the sentence was “just”. “It was not a prepared act, but an accident of life: he broke down after months of suffering”.