Murder suspect Peter Madsen sank submarine 'intentionally'
The position of the submarine's valves show it may have been sunk on purpose, a jury at Copenhagen City Court are told.
Tuesday 3 April 2018 18:40, UK
A Danish inventor accused of murdering a journalist on board his homemade submarine may have sunk the vessel "intentionally", a court has heard.
Ditte Dyreborg, a lieutenant commander in the Danish Navy, told Copenhagen City Court she took pictures and videos showing the positions of the submarine's valves.
"They were slightly open and that told me right away that this could be an intentional sinking," she said.
Peter Madsen, 47, is accused of murdering 30-year-old Kim Wall last August.
The journalist never returned after going to interview him on his submarine and days later her dismembered body was found in the sea.
Madsen admits dismembering Ms Wall's body and throwing it overboard, but denies a charge of premeditated murder.
Ms Dyreborg, who searched the submarine after it was drained, challenged Madsen's contention that Ms Wall died after breathing exhaust fumes.
"There was no CO, CO2 or NOx (nitrogen oxide), which there would have been if it had run with exhaust gas in the submarine," she told the court.
After measuring the air in the submarine, she determined it to have a normal concentration of oxygen.
Casting further doubt on Madsen's account, Ms Dyreborg told the court that the submarine's electric engine was set to run. Madsen had previously said that was not the case.
Asked by the defence whether she had ever been on the submarine - Nautilus - before examining it, Ms Dyreborg said: "Never."
Challenged about her capability to assess the the vessel, she said: "I can assess what belongs and what doesn't."
Another witness - a man who cannot be named - was questioned about what he had seen on the day Ms Wall went to the submarine.
The witness, who had been working at a festival at Copenhagen harbour, said he had been about five metres from Madsen, who was wearing a green boiler suit.
The man told the court he saw Madsen carrying a saw.
He added: "[Madsen] was very determined. He didn't fit in the image of everyone out there. All people were happy and it didn't seem like he was.
"He walked very determined and looked very fixedly forward like he didn't want to be accosted by anyone."
Towards the end of Tuesday's hearing, Madsen took the stand, and was asked by the defence whether he had emptied the submarine's compressors.
"I washed them around four times," he replied.
He earlier told police earlier he had washed the compressors three times.