The German Mother Who Killed Her Daughter's Killer In Court

On March 6, 1981, Marianne Bachmeier opened fire in a crowded courthouse in West Germany. Her target was a 35-year-old sex offender who was on trial for the death of her daughter. He was hit by six bullets and died. The incident immediately gained widespread attention and sparked a debate about the justification of vigilante punishment. The trial that followed was closely followed by the German public. Even after 40 years, the case remains one of the most notable episodes of vigilante punishment in German history, as described by the German news agency NDR.
Anna Bachmeier Is Murdered By Their Neighbor.

Before she became known as Germany's "Revenge Mother," Marianne Bachmeier was a struggling single mother who owned a tavern in West Germany's Lübeck in the 1970s. She resided with her third daughter, Anna. Her two elder children were placed with adoptive parents.
Anna was described as a "happy, tolerant youngster" before tragedy struck on May 5, 1980, when she was found dead. NDR reports that the seven-year-old girl had skipped school after an argument with her mother on that day and was later found to be in the custody of her 35-year-old neighbor, a local butcher named Klaus Grabowski who had a prior criminal record for child molestation.

Investigations later revealed that Grabowski had kept Anna at his residence for hours before strangling her with pantyhose. The exact nature of what happened during that time is unclear, including whether or not he had sexually abused her. He then placed her body in a cardboard box and dumped it on the bank of a nearby canal. Grabowski was arrested the following evening after his fiancee reported him to the authorities. He admitted to the murder but denied any sexual abuse. Instead, he gave a bizarre and unsettling account, claiming that Anna had attempted to blackmail him, by attempting to seduce him and threatening to report him to her mother if he did not give her money.

After one year, when Grabowski went to trial for the murder, Marianne Bachmeier exacted her vengeance. Marianne Bachmeier shot him six times.
It is likely that Bachmeier felt a sense of grief during Grabowski's trial. Despite this, his defense team argued that his actions were due to a hormonal imbalance caused by the hormone medication he had taken following his voluntary castration years prior.

During the third day of his trial in Lübeck district court, Marianne Bachmeier took out a .22-caliber Beretta pistol from her purse and fired it eight times at Grabowski. He was hit by six bullets and passed away on the courtroom floor. It is worth noting that Grabowski's castration was not carried out for the purpose of preventing recidivism, which was a common practice for sexual offenders at the time in Germany.

After shooting Grabowski, witnesses reported hearing Bachmeier make statements that indicate her intent to kill. According to Judge Guenther Kroeger, Bachmeier exclaimed "I wanted to kill him" immediately after shooting Grabowski in the back. Additionally, police officers testified that they heard Bachmeier say "He murdered my daughter... I planned to shoot him in the face, but I ended up shooting him in the back instead... I wish he were dead." and also she referred to him as "pig" after she shot him.

She Was Charged With Murder.
During her trial, Marianne Bachmeier claimed that she had shot Grabowski in a dream and had visions of her daughter in court. She later stated that she had heard that Grabowski was planning to make a statement, in reference to his claim that her seven-year-old child had been attempting to blackmail him. Bachmeier said, "I thought, here comes the next lie about my child, the victim." The trial attracted international attention due to the sensational nature of Bachmeier's vigilantism.

The German weekly magazine, Stern, ran a series of articles about the trial of Marianne Bachmeier which detailed her life as a working single mother who had faced a challenging childhood. It was reported that Bachmeier sold her story to the magazine for around $158,000 to cover her legal expenses throughout the trial.
The reaction from the magazine's readers was immense, with many questioning whether Bachmeier was a grieving mother seeking revenge for the murder of her child or if her actions had turned her into a ruthless killer. Many expressed sympathy for her motivations but condemned her actions.
In addition to the moral questions surrounding the case, there was also a legal debate over whether the shooting was premeditated and whether it constituted murder or manslaughter. This led to different outcomes in terms of penalties.

In 1983, Bachmeier was found guilty of intentional manslaughter by the court and was given a six-year prison sentence. A survey by the Allensbach Institute found that 28% of Germans believed the six-year sentence was a fair punishment for her actions, while 27% thought it was too harsh and 25% thought it was too lenient.

Marianne Bachmeier was released from prison in June 1985, having served only half of her sentence. After her release, she moved to Nigeria, got married, and lived there until the 1990s. After her divorce, she moved to Sicily, where she stayed until she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She then returned to Germany after its reunification.
She passed away on September 17, 1996, at age 46. She was interred alongside her daughter, Anna.