On 09 August 2024, a female trainee doctor was raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata (here). The Kolkata Police arrested the accused, Sanjay Roy, and the CBI is currently investigating the case. This incident has shocked the entire country, leading to protests across India demanding the strictest punishment for the accused (here, here). In this context, a video is going viral on social media (here, here, here and here), claiming to show German woman Marianne Bachmeier, who shot and killed her 7-year-old daughter’s rapist in court. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing German woman named Marianne Bachmeier shooting the man who raped and murdered her seven-year-old daughter in court.
Fact: This viral video clip of a woman shooting her daughter’s rapist in court is a scene from the German movie “Der Fall Bachmeier – Keine Zeit für Tränen (No Time for Tears: The Bachmeier Case)”, released in 1984. The film is based on the true story of Marianne Bachmeier. The character of Marianne Bachmeier was portrayed by Austrian actress Marie Colbin. According to reports, Marianne Bachmeier, a resident of West Germany, shot and killed Klaus Grabowski during a court hearing on 06 March 1981. Grabowski was accused of raping and murdering her 7-year-old daughter, Anna. Marianne Bachmeier was sentenced to six years in prison for the murder but was released on bail after three years. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
To verify the authenticity of the viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using keyframes from the video and found several social media posts (here, here, and here) stating that the viral clip is a scene from the German film “Der Fall Bachmeier – Keine Zeit für Tränen”, which is titled “No Time for Tears: The Bachmeier Case” in English. These posts further stated that in 1981, Marianne Bachmeier, a German woman, shot and killed the rapist and murderer of her 7-year-old daughter, Anna, in the Lübeck District Court in Germany.
Taking this cue, we then conducted a relevant keyword search and found the full movie uploaded on YouTube. At the 1:19:30 timestamp, a different version of the viral video clip can be seen. The woman wearing a long beige overcoat and shooting with a pistol, as well as the same actors from the viral video appear in this scene as well.
A comparison of the viral video clip with scenes from the movie “Der Fall Bachmeier – Keine Zeit für Tränen (No Time for Tears: The Bachmeier Case)” can be seen below:
According to the film website IMDb and the entertainment website letterboxd.com, this film was released in 1984. The movie’s plot synopsis is: ‘A mother shoots the murderer of her daughter in the courtroom.’ The film is based on the true story of a German woman named Marianne Bachmeier, who shot her daughter’s rapist and murderer in court in 1981. The character of Marianne Bachmeier was portrayed by Austrian actress Marie Colbin, and the film was directed by Hark Bohm.
According to a report published by the English news website The Sun, Marianne Bachmeier, a resident of West Germany, shot and killed Klaus Grabowski during a court hearing on 06 March 1981. Grabowski was accused of raping and murdering her 7-year-old daughter, Anna. Marianne Bachmeier was sentenced to six years in prison for the murder but was released on bail after three years. She passed away from cancer in 1996. Additional news reports about Marianne Bachmeier killing the accused in her daughter’s rape and murder case can be seen here.
To sum up, this viral video clip of a woman shooting her daughter’s rapist in court is a scene from a German movie based on the true story of Marianne Bachmeier, who shot her daughter’s rapist and murderer in court in March 1981.
