German who chopped off his 100-year-old grandmother’s head with an axe as she tried to fend him off with a vacuum cleaner is jailed for seven years

• Artur B, 37,  looked after his grandmother but killed her in March with an axe
• He was considered the ‘black sheep’ of his family, according to a relative
• The former soldier has been given a sentence of seven years in prison

A man who decapitated his 100-year-old grandmother with an axe as she cowered in her wheelchair has been jailed for seven years. 

Ex-soldier Artur B., from Hamburg in Germany, was sentenced by a regional court on Thursday after he was found guilty of attacking his grandmother Amalie G. with an axe and chopping her head off.

Retired farm worker Amalie G was found dead in her apartment in the German city after the attack by her 37-year-old grandson in March. 

Coroners determined Amalie was hit 16 times with the weapon as she tried in vain to defend herself with a cordless vacuum cleaner, and that she died when one strike severed her spinal cord. 

Artur was arrested after he called police to notify them of his crime. 

Following his arrest, Artur, who the court was told suffered a personality disorder, consulted a psychiatrist and claimed he was struggling to cope with the care of his wheelchair-bound grandmother who suffered from dementia.

Retired farm worker Amalie G was found dead in her apartment in the city of Hamburg after the attack by her 37-year-old grandson Artur B in March, investigators told the court

While awaiting trial following his arrest, Artur (left in court this week and right in undated image), who had been treated and prescribed medication for psychological problems according to German outlet Bild, consulted a psychiatrist and claimed he was struggling to cope for his wheelchair bound grandmother who suffered from dementia

Artur is said to have called police to say he had beheaded his grandmother and officers discovered an axe at the crime scene

But a relative told Bild that Artur, a former soldier, was considered ‘the black sheep of the family’ and that Amalie had routinely complained he was stealing from her.

‘Most of the time he was unemployed and he constantly lacked the money. Family members kept their distance from him,’ the relative added.

According to the preliminary autopsy result, it can be assumed that a cervical cord severing caused by sharp and blunt force was the cause of death. The suspected crime is an axe found at the crime scene,’ chief public prosecutor Liddy Oechtering said following the murder. 

A neighbour of the murdered grandmother told Bild: ‘We actually had good contact before her death. Amalie told me that her grandson had already broken into the apartment through the balcony and wanted to steal her money.’

The neighbour said Artur regularly came to look after his grandmother, but that the pair frequently argued and were often loud enough to be overheard.

‘The grandson regularly came to his grandmother’s apartment and looked after her. But there were arguments anyway.’

Relatives speculated that a dispute over money escalated the situation on the night of the killing. Artur is said to have called police to say he had beheaded his grandmother and officers discovered an axe at the bloody crime scene. 

When asked by Bild, the public prosecutor said that Artur B had no criminal record. 

According to information available to the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper, the man was only known to police for minor crimes and none of these were acts of violence.

Artur will testify before the court in Hamburg on Monday.  

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