Father who killed 3 children is on trial in Zagreb: He put pills in their cocoa, could spend decades in prison

Photo: Tanjug/FaH/ Damir Sencar, Facebook/Harald Kopitz

Less than nine months after a horrific crime was committed in the neighborhood of Mlinovi in Zagreb, Croatia, when Harald K. killed his three children in a rented apartment by dissolving 30 pills in their hot cocoa, the trial of this 57-year-old Austrian citizen began today in the Zagreb District Court.

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The prosecutor suggested that the trial be closed to the public, with which everyone agreed, including Harald K. himself, so the five-member panel of judges made that decision. The trial is closed to protect the interests of the deceased children and their mother.

The horrific event occurred in the night of September 24-25, 2021, when a four-year-old boy and seven-year-old twins were spending their evening as usual with the father while the mother, Harald's ex-partner, was on a business trip, trusting the man with taking care of the children, Jutarnji List writes.

The Prosecution said earlier that the accused is charged with "premeditated intent to kill them by abusing the trust the children had towards him as their father" adding one was four and the other two seven years old, and that the crime was committed on September 24 of last year in an apartment in Zagreb's Mlinovi neighborhood.

Expert medical examination determined that the killer was of sound mind at the time of the commission of the crime.

If found guilty, he faces up to 50 years in prison.

Harald K. came to the trial with his hands and feet tied, and in addition to his lawyer, he also had a German translator in the courtroom with him.

(Telegraf.rs)