Movie Clip Shared as Real Visual of Mother Shooting Daughter’s Rapist in Court

The viral image is from the 1984 movie 'No Time for Tears: The Bachmeier Case', based on a real incident.

Fact-Check: This image was taken from a movie made on the incident.

(Photo: Altered by the Quint)

A video allegedly showing Marianne Bachmeier, a German woman, shooting the man who sexually assaulted and killed her seven-year-old daughter in court has gone viral on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.

Claim: Those sharing the image claimed that it was footage from the real incident.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

What is the truth? This is not real footage of the event.

• The clip is actually from the 1984 movie No Time for Tears: The Bachmeier Case, which was based on the same incident and starred Austrian actress Marie Colbin.

How did we find the truth? We conducted a reverse image search using Google Lens.

• The search revealed that the video was taken from the 1984 movie No Time for Tears: The Bachmeier Case, a movie which was based on the same incident.

• We located the movie on YouTube and at the 1:19:30 timestamp, a similar scene shown in the X post can be seen.

A still from the movie, paused at the same scene depicted in the Tweet.

(Source: YouTube/Screenshot)

• After checking the movie on IMDb, the photos confirm that the actress matches the one in the video.

The movie, No Time for Tears: The Bachmeier Case (1984), can be found on IMDb. 

(Source: IMDb/Screenshot)

• Upon further reverse image search using relevant keywords, we found another angle of the clip on YouTube that matched the viral video.

Upon comparing the viral video and the movie clip, it is evident they are the same.

A side-by-side comparison of the viral video and the movie clip.

(Source: X/YouTube/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

Context: On 6 March 1981, Marianne Bachmeier shot Klaus Grabowski, her daughter's killer, during his trial.

• The Bachmeier case was one of the most sensational criminal trials in 1980s Germany, prompting filmmaker Hark Bohm to adapt the story into a film.

• The released 1984 film No Time for Tears: The Bachmeier Case had Marie Colbin portraying Marianne Bachmeier.

The real Marianne Bachmeier next to Marie Colbin, the actress who portrayed her in the movie about the incident.

(Source: IMDb/The Sun/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

Conclusion: The movie clip is being falsely shared as real visuals of the incident.

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