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Man jailed in Germany for squashing wife to death


    BERLIN (Reuters) - A man in Germany was jailed for five years on Wednesday after he sat on his wife during a domestic dispute and squashed her so badly that she later died.

    The 128-kg (282-pound) man "sat on his wife's chest for atleast two minutes and broke her ribs in 18 places", saidJan-Michael Seidel, a spokesman for the court in the northerntown of Hildesheim. "It was quite deliberate."

    The woman, who was half her husband's weight, died from herinjuries less than a month later.

    The 50-year-old man was charged with grievous bodily harmleading to death.

    He told the court he had accidentally fallen on his wifeafter trying to drag her into another room during the fight.Forensic evidence showed this was untrue.

    (Reporting by Sylvia Westall, editing by Robert Woodward)