I hired kidnapper to snare rapist who poisoned & killed my daughter – but some people thought it was ME in the wrong | The Sun

ABDUCTED from his home and bundled into the back of a getaway car, a wanted killer was bound, gagged and beaten.

After driving him miles from his home, his vigilante captors dumped him on a pavement outside a prosecutor’s office and alerted the authorities.

It sounds like the plot of a gangster movie, but this is the remarkable true story of a kidnap plot orchestrated by a dad desperate to bring his daughter’s killer to justice.

Andre Bamberski, now 84, was convinced his ex-wife’s new husband, German cardiologist Dr Dieter Krombach, was behind 14-year-old Kalinka’s mysterious death in July 1982.

Following a bungled investigation, authorities in Germany refused to open a case against the renowned physician and former diplomat.

For the next 30 years, Andre, a retired accountant, waged a tireless campaign to expose Kalinka’s killer.

It culminated in him hiring Kosovan-born barman Anton Krasniqi to snatch Krombach from his home and bring him to France to face trial.

While Krombach was convicted and jailed for 15 years, Anton and his accomplice were also caught and jailed, while Andre received a suspended sentence for organising the abduction.

Now free and speaking exclusively to The Sun, Anton and Andre insist they have no regrets. 

Andre says: “Listen, 27 years after the death of Kalinka, I wasn’t really concerned about the consequences I’d face. 

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“I was happy that I wasn’t concerned. If I was, I would have never gone through with the abduction and justice would have never prevailed for Kalinka, so I don’t regret anything – even the unjust backlash I received."

Anton – who took no payment for his part in the kidnap – admits he would have happily taken justice into his own hands when it came to Krombach.

“I have two daughters and although I am Catholic, whoever touches my children is dead,” he says.

"I told Mr Bamberski that I can buy a bullet for £5 and another predator would have been gone. 

"However, he only wished for him to be put before the court and get justice, and that wish was very important.

"Mr Bamberski is a very kind man because he wanted him alive for him to go through the right channels of justice. He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he was killed."

Tragic death

The dramatic tale is the focus of new Netflix true crime documentary My Daughter's Killer, streaming now. 

Remembering his daughter, Andre says: “She was very beautiful, blonde, and most of all, she was free-spirited and very mature, almost like an adult. She gave me great happiness.” 

Andre’s relationship with Kalinka’s mum Daniele – with whom he also shares son Nicolas – broke down when she was caught having an affair with their married neighbour, Dr Krombach.

Daniele wed Krombach in 1977, and Kalinka and Nicolas spent their summer holidays with them in Lindau, Germany.

It was Krombach’s third marriage; his first wife died suddenly at 24. 

Five years later, Andre received the devastating news that Kalinka – who had no underlying health conditions – had passed away at her stepdad's.

He recalls: “Right there and then, the news totally shot me down. It was hard for me to accept it."

It later emerged Krombach admitted he’d given his stepdaughter an iron injection allegedly to treat anaemia – a condition she didn’t have.

But a post-mortem found injuries suggesting Kalinka had been sexually assaulted, and that she’d choked before she died.

Prosecutors refused to open a case against Krombach due to a lack of evidence, but, convinced of his guilt, Andre launched an appeal.

He pushed for another autopsy in France – where Kalinka was buried – which found organs, including her genitals, hadn’t been replaced, contradicting the initial report.

Andre claims it was “clear from the beginning” that Krombach was being “protected by the authorities”, arguing: “The forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy initially refused to take additional tissue samples from Kalinka’s body to get a precise report.”

Breakthrough

A breakthrough came when he discovered Kalinka's French nationality meant there could be a new trial in France.

There a court decided there was enough evidence to try Krombach in absentia in 1995.

He was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years, but German authorities refused to hand him over, and the European Court of Human Rights later quashed the conviction, ruling Krombach had been denied a fair hearing.

Unrelenting, Andre hired private detectives to track down Krombach – who'd split from Daniele in 1989.

He says: "If I had given up on the case, I would have betrayed the memories of my daughter which is impossible for me.”

If I had given up on the case, I would have betrayed the memories of my daughter which is impossible for me

In 1997, Krombach was convicted of drugging and raping a 16-year-old female patient. He was handed a two year suspended sentence in Germany and struck off. 

Five other alleged victims then came forward and made complaints of rape against him.

They included two sisters who claimed he gave them iron injections beforehand, but their testimonies were rejected due to a lack of evidence.

Despite having his medical licence revoked, Krombach was found to be practising in 2006 and served 18 months in prison. 

Shortly after his release, Andre hatched a plan to finally get justice for his daughter. 

He distributed adverts asking for help to get Krombach to France to face the courts, and was contacted by Anton, who was working as a barman in Austria and had ties to a Russian mob.

Anton, whose daughters were then the same age as Kalinka, says: "For me it was the fight for a father to get justice and to find the truth about his child.

"He fought for not just a day or a week, but for 28 years, so I was committed to helping him.”

In October 2009, Anton and his accomplice Kacha Bablovani, from Georgia, snatched Krombach from his Scheidegg home and drove him across the French border to the town of Mulhouse.

There they left him bound and beaten up outside the courthouse before tipping off police.

At trial in 2011, Krombach was caged for 15 years for bodily harm leading to unintentional death.

The kidnappers were also caught after a phone bill was found at the scene of the kidnapping with Andre’s name and address on it.

Anton was sentenced to one year in prison, but was hailed a hero by Andre.

Andre says: “For him to do what he did when in reality this situation had nothing to do with him and – I also didn’t pay him – is absolutely exceptional.

For Anton to do what he did when in reality this situation had nothing to do with him and – I also didn’t pay him – is absolutely exceptional

"It’s also because of him – not just me – that justice prevailed for Kalinka. For this, I will owe him for the rest of my life."

Andre was convicted in 2014 for ordering the kidnap but escaped with a one-year suspended sentence. The prosecutor praised him for his “courage and perseverance”.

Throughout his incarceration Krombach made several unsuccessful attempts to appeal and overturn his conviction.

In February 2020 he was released from prison after nine years on medical grounds, and died in a nursing home seven months later.

This month marked 40 years since Kalinka's death, and Andre is determined to keep her memory alive.

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He says: "I remember Kalinka not as she would have looked if she was 55 years old today, but as the almost 15-year-old girl she was when she was murdered.

"I visit her grave at least once a week to pray for her and leave flowers. I think about her every day."

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