German Jailed for Cannibal Killing

A German who stabbed and dismembered his gay lover, stored some of his organs in the fridge to eat later and fed other body parts to his cat, was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Tuesday. The accused, identified in line with normal court practice only as Ralf M., 41, was convicted of stabbing to death Joe R., 33, a music teacher from Berlin, with a screwdriver. The case has drawn comparisons with a cannibal trial which intrigued and appalled Germany last year. The Berlin court also ordered the unemployed painter to be treated in a psychiatric clinic after experts concluded he was obsessed with butchery as part of a homosexual relationship. Joe R.'s torso, legs and arms were discovered in Ralf M.'s apartment and his heart, kidneys, liver and lungs were found in his refrigerator last October. Ralf M. fed the rest of his victim to his cats. The two met through a gay website and agreed to engage in sado-masochistic practices, the court heard. Ralf M. said in his Internet small ad that he was looking for a "svelte man, around 30, for a holiday roast dinner". Germany was gripped last year by the trial of self-confessed cannibal Armin Meiwes, 43, who was convicted of manslaughter after killing and eating a willing victim. Meiwes was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, but a German federal court last month ordered a re-trial after the prosecution demanded a heavier penalty.