Man sentenced to 70 years in German exchange student’s death

A homeowner in the U.S. state of Montana was sentenced Thursday to 70 years in prison, with no parole for at least 20 years, in the shotgun killing of a German exchange student who was trespassing in his garage. District Judge McLean said Markus Kaarma was hunting, not safeguarding his home when he shot 17-year-old Diren Dede early one April morning. The trial tested the extent of self-defence laws governing the use of deadly force to defend life and property.

Here you have a 12-gauge shotgun, not to protect your family but to go after someone.

Ed McLean, judge

Prosecutors said Kaarma had been intent on luring an intruder into his garage, leaving it partially open on the night he shot Diren four times with a shotgun. Detectives said the first three shots were fired low and seemed to follow Diren as he moved across the garage. The fourth shot was aimed higher and struck the teenager in the head. Kaarma had installed motion detectors and a baby monitor days before the shooting and deliberately left a purse filled with cash and other items in the garage on the day Diren was killed, the trial heard. But defence lawyers argued their client had feared for his life and did not know if the intruder was armed.

It is justice. I am not happy. My son is dead.

Celal Dede, victim’s father

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