COPENHAGEN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Danish submarine owner Peter Madsen, who has been accused of manslaughtering Swedish journalist Kim Wall, said on Tuesday that Wall was accidentally killed by a hatch cover.
In a testimony read out in Copenhagen City Court by prosecutor Jacob Buch Jepsen, Madsen said Wall died at around 10:00 p.m. on Aug. 10 aboard his privately built submarine after being struck by a hatch cover weighing 70 kilograms.
He explained that he raised the hatch for Wall to come up from below in the submarine. Suddenly, he slipped on the platform and the hatch fell and hit her.
The builder of the 18-meter vessel, named UC3 Nautilus, told the court that he went into a state of shock and became suicidal following the accident, and decided to sail out into the the deep water and take his own life before changing his mind and disposing Wall's body into the sea.
Later, he decided to scuttle the submarine.
Madsen was rescued shortly before the vessel sank and brought back to Copenhagen on Aug. 11, claiming that the vessel had met a technical problem. He also told police that Wall had earlier disembarked from the vessel before it sank.
On Aug. 21, Wall's torso was found washed up on shore near Copenhagen.
On the same day, Copenhagen Police confirmed that Madsen had admitted on Aug. 12 that he had "buried Wall at sea" after she died on board due to an "accident".
Madsen was then charged with manslaughter and the prosecution has requested he undergo psychiatric evaluation.
Copenhagen police said that Wall's legs, arms and head, which have not yet been found, were removed deliberately, and that the body had been tampered with to make it sink.
However, Madsen is still pleading not guilty to the charge of manslaughter of Wall on Tuesday, insisting that her body was contact when disposed, according to his lawyer Betina Hald Engmark.
