A French court sentenced an escaped inmate to life imprisonment and his lover to a jail term of 13 years Saturday, after they murdered her husband in a plot inspired by the television detective series "Columbo".
Jean-Stephane Saizelet, 41, and Nadege Witkorska, 47, were convicted of murdering Jean-Bernard Witkorska in 1995 in his flat in Sarcelles, north of Paris, using a heavy weight used for weight-lifting.
Witkorska told the court that they had drugged her husband's drink and then placed him on the training bench, dropping a 50-kilo (110 pound) weight onto his throat to crush it and making it look like an accident, taking their lead from an episode of the American television series.
They almost succeeded in their plan but a suspicious policeman intervened minutes before the body was to be cremated, calling for an autopsy.
High levels of barbiturates and alcohol were found in the dead man's blood and the couple were arrested before Witkorska was able to claim the life insurance of 760.000 francs (98,000 dollars, 116,000 euros) taken out by her husband.
Witkorska's lawyers had called for clemency on the grounds that she and her two children -- now both adult -- had frequently been treated violently by her husband, and that she had been influenced by Saizelet, who was on the run after jumping bail from prison were he was serving a six-year prison term for theft and drugs offences.
The court recommended that Saizelet, who maintained his innocence despite Witkorska's confession, not be released from jail for at least 22 years -- PONTOISE (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
