<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/germany" rel="" target="" title="German"><span>German</span></a><span> mother shot the killer of her young daughter midway through a trial on </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/today-in-history" rel="" target="" title="March 6, 1981"><span>March 6, 1981</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A year earlier, Marianne Bachmeier's daughter Anna was abducted by Klaus Grabowski, a local butcher.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He sexually assaulted and then strangled the seven-year-old before dumping her body on the shore of a canal.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-february-28-what-happened-on-this-day-olaf-palme/139acef5-1507-4a72-94c5-d59ad899237f"><strong><span>Police thought he was an 'attention-seeker eyewitness'. He was the killer</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>His fiancee turned him in to the police.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Grabowski was a previously convicted sex offender who had agreed to a chemical castration several years earlier in exchange for leniency for a previous crime.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But with the court's permission, he reversed the castration with hormone therapy.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-march-6-what-happened-on-this-day-marianne-bachmeier/6e82226b-53c7-42a0-8d68-3ac8d77fc915" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>On trial for Anna's murder, Grabowski said he strangled her after the seven-year-old blackmailed him.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bachmeier was incensed with the allegation.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bachmeier smuggled a handgun into a courtroom in Lubeck on the third day of the trial.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-february-19-what-happened-on-this-day-nikko-jenkins/e918bf40-c62f-445a-be8f-0611a0fd2512"><strong><span>Serial killer sues state for letting him out of prison</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She shot Grabowski six times, killing him instantly.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I did it for you, Anna," she said as she lowered her gun and surrendered.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I wanted to shoot him in the face. Unfortunately, I hit him in the back. I hope he's dead."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She was </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/murder" rel="" target="" title="charged with murder"><span>charged with murder</span></a><span>, but prosecutors later changed the charge to manslaughter.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Initially, the people of Germany sided with Bachmeier after her act of vigilante justice.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But opinion turned against her when tabloids detailed instances of her being a neglectful mother.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the trial, Bachmeier's lawyers argued the killing was not premeditated.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She was sentenced to six years in prison and freed after three.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-march-5-what-happened-on-this-day-death-of-stalin/6ec00e40-78d8-401c-b600-2947e48ded39" rel="" target="" title="Dictator purportedly murdered to prevent war with US"><strong><span>Dictator purportedly murdered to prevent war with US</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After her conviction, she revealed on a television talk show that the killing was not done on the spur of the moment and she had planned it in advance.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A friend later revealed she had practised the killing in the basement of her home.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bachmeier died of pancreatic cancer in 1996, aged 46.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She is buried next to her daughter.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-january-31-what-happened-on-this-day/8818560c-2d30-44c1-ab8a-e3c14e96f311"><strong><span>Bank robber brought undone by notorious Aussie traffic bottleneck</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/today-in-history" target="" title="For more from our Today in History archive, click here."><strong><span>For more from our Today in History archive, click here</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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