More on the Keupstraße bomb, and first evidence concerning the bank robberies in Stralsund

On this last trial day before the Easter break, the court first heard another victim of the Keupstraße nail bomb – two more victims had been summoned, but could not appear in court today.

The witness heard today was the owner of a travel office in the Keupstraße. When the bomb exploded, he was standing on the sidewalk a few meters away and was lucky to be injured “only” as to his hearing. His son and daughter were in the travel office and were saved from serious injuries by a transporter which stood in the street and caught many nails which otherwise would have hit their shop. However, the financial repercussions of the attack – mostly due to customers not coming to the Keupstraße anymore – were so severe that he had to close his shop a few years later.

The court then hears the first witness concerning the bank robberies in Stralsund in November of 2006 and January of 2007. However, several of the witnesses summoned for today were sick, the court could only hear two bank tellers today.

The first witness did not remember many details, what’s more, she was on the periphery of both robberies and only confronted with one of the perpetrators for a short moment. He spoke with a slight accent which the witness – herself clearly hailing from the Northeast of Germany – placed towards Saxony/Saxony-Anhalt. After the robberies, she tried to continue working normally, but she is still suffering from psychological injuries today.

The second witness was also present at both robberies, witnessed shots (fired into the ceiling). Interestingly, during the second robbery the perpetrators went directly towards the teller who had opened the safe during the first one. One of the two perpetrators announced that he would shoot and kill her if the money turned out to contain a dye bomb. She described the perpetrators as 25 to 30 years old, between 180 and 190 cm tall, slim, with a Southeastern accent (she placed it towards the Magdeburg/Halle region) – a description which matches Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos rather well. She was visibly still suffering from psychological injuries incurred, which were among the reasons for her early retirement.

Over the next few weeks, the court will hear several more witness concerning these two robberies, which netted the two a quarter million Euros.