Parche court dispute

TENNIS

The man who stabbed Monica Seles in the back should be sent to prison, partly because the attack so far has ended her tennis career, the prosecution argued at the re-trial of Gnther Parche in Hamburg yesterday.

The District Court also heard testimony from a homicide detective, a psychiatrist and a psychologist who said Parche, 40, needed medical treatment rather than prison time.

Rolf Rosenkranz, prosecuting, said Parche, originally given a suspended sentence for the attack in April 1993, should be jailed for two years and nine months, but he said the charge of attempted murder could be rejected.

"It's my opinion an attempted murder cannot be proven," he said. "From the previous life of the accused, there is nothing to show he was aggressive."

But he said a prison sentence was justified because Parche had carefully planned the attack, because it was carried out in public and it was in part caused by political prejudices. The trial is expected to end tomorrow.