Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 14, 1993 TAG: 9310140214
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HAMBURG, GERMANY LENGTH: Medium
A tennis fan who stabbed Monica Seles out of an obsessive love for her rival, Steffi Graf, walked away free Wednesday after a court convicted him but gave him a suspended two-year sentence.
Guenter Parche, 39, an unemployed east German who had been detained since the April 30 attack at a Hamburg tournament, could have received a three-year, nine-month jail term.
But Hamburg District Judge Elke Bosse said she took into account a psychiatrist's testimony that Parche had a "highly abnormal personality" that could have diminished his ability to reason.
She noted that Parche had shown remorse for his attack on the world's top-ranked female player, and that "his confession was absolutely believable."
Seles said she was "horrified" by the sentence.
"He gets to go back to his life, but I can't because I am still recovering from this attack," she said in a statement released in Miami by her spokeswoman, Linda Dozoretz.
"I fear for my fellow athletes, public figures and other potential victims of senseless crimes who have to go out today and tomorrow, knowing that a criminal who commits such an act will not be punished," said Seles, a 19-year-old Yugoslavia native who lives in Sarasota, Fla.
Martina Navratilova, another former No. 1 player, was outraged.
"You guys need some serious help with the laws here in Germany," she said at a tennis match in Filderstadt.
Seles' attorney, Gerhard Strate, said he probably would appeal the sentence.
German television said Parche chose to spend the night in jail despite the the judge saying he was free, but the report could not be confirmed.
Parche plunged a kitchen knife into Seles' back while she sat at courtside during a pause between games, saying he hoped to sideline her long enough to allow Graf to regain the No. 1 ranking - which she did.
Seles has not played in a tournament since sustaining the half-inch-deep wound and has dropped to No. 4 in the world. She hopes to resume her career in January in Australia.
Graf, a 24-year-old German, has reclaimed the top spot. She has apologized to Seles for the attack.
Parche was tried and convicted on a charge of causing grievous bodily harm, which normally carries a maximum five years in prison. Parche could have received only three-quarters of that because of diminished responsibility.
The sentence was in line with what defense attorney Otmar Kury had sought. The state prosecutor, Juergen Frantz, asked for a sentence of two years and nine months.
Bosse said she fully believed Parche's claim that he never intended to kill Seles, although he clearly had planned the attack for a long time.
Wolfgang Pinski, a psychiatrist who examined Parche in custody, testified that Parche was introverted and insecure and had no friends and "no sexual life."
"For him, Steffi Graf was someone other-worldly. The pope and the president of the United States were on one level, then above them was Steffi Graf," Pinski said.
But Pinski said Parche had never been aggressive before.
"You can't remodel people with abnormal personalities . . . but in my estimation the possibility that he would do that again is very small," he said.
by CNB