Peter Madsen Claims Reporter Wall 'Killed by Sub Hatch Cover Incident'

Danish submarine owner Peter Madsen is charged with killing Swedish freelance journalist Kim Wall. He claimed that she died in a freak accident aboard his homemade submarine.

In the first public hearing since his arrest in August, the 46-year-old inventor, originally charged with "negligent manslaughter," said that Kim Wall died after she was accidentally hit by a heavy hatch cover in the submarine’s tower as they sailed in the strait between Denmark and Sweden last month, news.com.au wrote.

Peter Madsen said that as he was holding the hatch for the journalist, he suddenly “lost his footing” and the 70-kilogram hatch came down hitting her hard on the head.

“Kim had been severely hurt and was bleeding intensely. There was a pool of blood where she had landed,” Madsen testified, The Independent reported.

The search for Kim Wall began when her boyfriend reported her missing on August 11, while Madsen insisted he had dropped the Swede off in Copenhagen harbor, alive and well the night before.

However, after a cyclist found a headless female torso washed ashore, which police later identified as being Kim Wall, Madsen said she had died as a result of an accident on board his submarine, and that he had decided to bury her at sea.

Danish police said last month that they believed Kim Wall’s body had been weighed down “likely with the purpose of making it sink”. In addition they noted that her extremities had yet to be found.

The Copenhagen district court will decide whether to extend Madsen’s custody and on what charges.