A salesman who accidentally killed his lover while using a cucumber as a sex toy has been spared jail time.
Oliver Dietmann, 46, put the vegetable in his lover Rica Varna’s mouth after using it to pleasure her and then went off for a cigarette as she lay there.
But he didn’t realise she was unable to breathe, and when he came back she was unconscious.
Dietmann, a married father of one, claimed the two of them often brought vegetables into the bedroom, including carrots and courgettes on occasion.
He was convicted of negligent homicide at the court in the south-western German city of Mannheim.
Rica, also 46, suffocated to death due to the mushed up cucumber in her mouth on July 19, 2014.
Dietmann said he met Rica in 2004, and their relationship turned sexual five years later.
On the day of her death, his wife and daughter were away. He and Rica shared four bottles of wine and several glasses of schnapps.
But Dietmann said he was distracted after putting the cucumber in her mouth because he smelled something burning and remembered he had been cooking meat for the dog.
‘I ran to the kitchen, fed my dog and then went on to the balcony to smoke a cigarette,’ he said.
But when he returned it was too late.
‘I tried to get the cucumber pieces out of her mouth, but they were so mushy I couldn’t get any purchase at all,’ Dietmann said.
Doctors told the court the vegetable had got wedged in her throat, blocking her air and dropping her into a coma.
Prosecutor Reinhard Hoffmann told the court he should have realised that she was at risk and should not have left her alone for so long.
Judge Volker Schmelcher said: ‘Because they did not have any dildos at hand, both came up with the idea of using a cucumber. The accused pushed the vegetable into her vagina and anus, he then sliced up the cucumber and put it into her mouth. He then noticed something smoking from the kitchen, and realised he had forgotten meat in the pan, and left her.’
He said it was clearly a mistake to leave her in this state, but it was a tragic accident.
Patrick Senghaus, defending Dietmann, said: ‘My client had no idea of the danger. The pair had often had this type of sex, she wasn’t tied up and he felt that if the cucumber was a problem, she could have removed it herself.’
As well as a 20-month suspended sentence, he was also ordered to pay 6,000 Euro (£4,718) fine.
