Man left his girlfriend to freeze to death

[Trevordidit]

Man left his girlfriend to freeze when she was struggling on a mountain hike.

He's been found guilty of manslaughter.

So many aspects of his account don't make sense - AIBU to wonder if he did it on purpose?

News article

Yes @OtterlyAstounding I just checked and it’s 5.22pm - pretty early!

That's very helpful thank you.

It's very bizarre. If it was her mum, then 149 it would make more sense.

The earlier call to 149 could have been an accident. Or perhaps when she hurt her hand, or was beginning to feel worse? Was that maybe when their rope got hung up, and they both considered having to turn back before he got it free?

As for her text to her mum, did she perhaps think that they were going to turn around at that point, so she texted her mum to reassure her, thinking, 'well, I'm on my way down now anyway'? But then he convinced her to keep going? IDK.

Thanks @OtterlyAstounding that also confirms the text to her Mum saying ‘we’re down’ was at 6.07pm. So after her ‘maybe’ attempted emergency call.

Utterly bizarre..

Maybe that’s right, in which case, if it is then that was shockingly earlier than he said, and lends weight to the suspicion that he intended her to die.

Or that 'we're down' meaning we're struggling, in trouble. Clearly she was struggling at that point.

That's true! I don't know what she said exactly in German and whether it has the same double meaning in English, but that could be it.

We also don't know how the viral infection was affecting her - I have read (can't remember where) that when the helicopter flew over, she was clearly alive and didn't seem in distress, but she also didn't acknowledge the helicopter at all, which seems odd. As if she was so affected by the exhaustion and illness (which would've been exacerbated by the cold and exertion), that she didn't have the energy to spare to even wave/look up. (I wish I could remember where I saw that).

If she was already quite affected by 6 pm, is it possible that she wasn't thinking clearly already when she texted her mother?

I'm sure that there's many words in German that have opposite meanings just as there are in English.

She said
"Wir sind fertig mit der Tour. Wir sind bereits unten".
This means "We are finished with the tour. We are already down".
Both sentences are important but various press sources have reported one or the other.
In combination it's clear what Kerstin wrote. They had finished the tour and they were already down, ie. back at the car.
The word "unten" would not be used to describe someone feeling down, or being down as in down/injured/unable to get up/unable to go on etc. It specifically refers to the location "down".

Before she sent this text she had tried to phone 140, mountain rescue so the reassuring text is very odd indeed.

Maybe she was very worried and wanted to reassure her mother. Maybe Thomas took the phone off her and sent it. Who knows.

I've actually changed my mind about this. There were several realistic possibilities to save her and he refused to do so for whatever reason.

He summitted the Großglockner many times before so it's bizarre that "summit fever" could have been the reason he refused help.

Fertig can also mean done. Thank you for your post.

Ich bin fertig means I'm done/finished.

So the only reason she would have sent the text at 6ish to her Mum is either to reassure her or if he took the phone and sent it. Nothing else makes sense

This 149 (one digit out) call at 5.22pm is key I feel. If she was needing assistance at that time why would she agree to push on for another 5 hours, barely making any progress.

I find it horrifying that both had phones and reception yet neither managed to get the help they needed…that the emergency services knew exactly where they were yet help was refused and ignored until 3.30am!

Yes it does. As I was writing my post I initially wrote a comment about that. I use it a lot "Ich bin fertig mit der Tour" could also mean "I'm done" or "I'm knackered" or something BUT when I checked sources again the text message included both sentences "Wir sind fertig mit der Tour" AND "Wir sind bereits unten"

I originally thought she just said "Wir sind fertig mit der Tour" which is more open to a "knackered" "done" "finished" explanation but on checking she also said "Wir sind bereits unten" and that would suggest "Wir sind fertig mit der Tour" means "We have finished the tour".

Thank you! That's so helpful!

It would be strange for Thomas to send it if he was planning anything nefarious. There was no need, and it wouldn't help his story. But for Kerstin to send it is nearly as confusing, although there are more potential reasons, if one speculates.

I find it weird that there was a 149 call from Kerstin, a clear mistake in the dial, and yet less than an hour later was able to send that text to her mum. (With no further texts to her mum or from the mum).

Pure, total speculation, but I'm wondering if the 5.22 call was because they had an accident like a tangled rope, and she briefly thought 'we can't do this' but bungled the number. Then before she called back, either the situation was resolved (the rope came free), or he said, 'no! no, don't call' and so she stopped, and he then convinced her they were alright to go on.

Perhaps her phone battery was dying, maybe because they were out longer than expected, or if we're going to go very nefarious, maybe he made sure her phone was low on charge. She perhaps still thought they'd get over okay at that point, just slower than expected because she wasn't feeling great, and she wanted to reassure her mum before her phone died, so texted early.

Then by the time she decided they needed help, her phone was already dead, and she couldn't get his.

Would her Mum have been worried if she hadn’t heard by a certain point and alerted the emergency services? Maybe Kerstin had agreed to text at a
certain time and didn’t want her to worry.

It was clearly a reassuring text but wasn’t true. So was sent by either one of them. But with different objectives.

We don’t have any info as to when her phone died? I feel this is crucial. If it was still working right up until he left her we have to question why she didn’t call for help. I can’t see it in any of the transcripts.

My view is that to prove intent to murder in this case would simply be impossible and would result in a not guilty verdict. It's the right thing to prosecute under manslaughter by gross negligence. The prosecution is right to appeal against the lenient sentence, when it was judged as guilty.

Probably because she died before the phone did.

Yep, the evidence isn't conclusive enough to prove intent to murder. A judge/jury would need something more concrete.

I do think the judge was biased in favour of Thomas P though.

Oh yes. Sad. So for some reason she didn’t call for help apart from that 149 dial. Even though she was in a bad way.

The question that keeps coming back to me is whether Kerstin actually sent the text to her mum - or did he?

That doesn't work in German

He was asking about the whereabouts of his GoPro camera the morning she was found dead. Why would he be bothered? What did happen to his camera?

It stuck out how he insisted that she was as responsible as him for the tour because she was a climber and they’d planned it together etc when he was clearly so much more experienced. And didn’t he say he didn’t know why she hadn’t put her own survival tent up, when she could barely move?

Does anyone who followed in German know if he was asked or responded to questions about her texting her parents and dialling for emergency services? Guessing he just said he didn’t know about it but I don’t remember seeing anything.