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Judge orders drinks to help witness spur his memory
A judge during a murder trial in Germany had to order drinks for a homeless alcoholic whose withdrawal symptoms started to affect his memory while testifying in the court. The judge summoned for a court official to go and buy two small bottles of weinbrand.
A judge during a murder trial in Germany had to order drinks for a homeless alcoholic whose withdrawal symptoms started to affect his memory while testifying in the court.
"I think you need a drink," said judge Frank Rosenow with sobriety-challenged Miroslav Waldchek, 50, replying: "I think I do too, your honour."
The judge summoned for a court official to go and buy two small bottles of weinbrand -- a nearly 40% proof German brandy very much liked by gentlemen of the road.
The assistant returned with his purchases and put into the shaking hands of Waldchek, Daily Mail reported.
The man was then allowed to go into a sideroom, adjacent to the State Court in Hanover, to guzzle it under a doctor's observation.
The drink actually helped when 40 minutes later, Waldchek returned refreshed to give testimony against a fellow accused of trying to knife him to death in a drunken row two years ago.
"I am mightily grateful, your honour," said Waldchek after this refreshing break, the first of its kind thought to ever have been granted in German judicial history.
