German street racers who killed cyclist ordered to stand retrial

Two young drivers in Cologne who killed a cyclist while having a street race have been ordered to stand for a retrial.

The motorists, who were 21 and 22 at the time, sped at 95km/h (59mph) through the city on a whim.

One of the pair hit a 19 year old female cyclist who was in a bicycle lane, who later died in hospital.

They were both convicted of negligent homicide, and driver who hit the woman was sentences to a two-year suspended sentence, and the other to less than a year’s suspended sentence.

But a higher court. the Federal Court of Justice, ruled the judgement was too lenient. and that the state court should have considered how the suspended sentences would impact the greater public’s sense of justice, according to The Local.

“There is no conviction that can bring our daughter back,” said the young woman’s father in June, adding that the suspended sentence was “like an acquittal”.

Head judge Beate Sost-Scheible ordered another hearing at the state court. The sentence for the young men could rise to up to five years in jail.