A convicted rapist who punched and killed an off-duty police officer at a World Cup fan zone in Copenhagen has been sentenced to one year in prison.
Christian Zedig, 32, a father of two, was watching the match between Norway and Ivory Coast on a giant screen on June 30 when a fight broke out. He intervened and was struck in the throat, causing an artery to rupture. He died in a Copenhagen hospital on July 3.
Suspect surrenders and pleads guilty
Danish police launched a manhunt and urged the suspect to hand himself in. Nkumba Ludovic Tshiembe surrendered and was remanded in custody, initially denying wrongdoing. He pleaded guilty at an assault trial this week.
Tshiembe admitted throwing beer cans at other people before the fatal assault. He claimed he was annoyed with others in the area, but it was not because Christian had thrown beer. Asked about the blow, Tshiembe, who has a background in boxing, said: “I don’t know why I hit him.”
Sentence and damages
The 31-year-old was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay DKK 1.9m (£215,000) in damages to Christian’s wife and two young daughters.
Tshiembe was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2017 for attempted murder after stabbing a man in the heart at a nightclub. Before that, he had been convicted of rape.
Family’s loss and political reaction
Christian, from Eksjö, Sweden, was on holiday in Denmark at the time of the attack. His wife, Emelie, said they had known each other for 17 years, having met at secondary school and started dating nine years ago.
Emelie said of Christian: “He was our security. Everything we had imagined for the future... We were supposed to be two people raising our two girls together.”
Danish and Swedish politicians from across the political spectrum have criticised the sentence.
