Pedophile ring, 13 victims, 100s of charges - Berlin
Kidnapped, trafficked, raped, beaten unconscious - Mönchengladbach
Ludwig Max. U. toilet rapist confesses - Munich
Repeated rapist of 8 y/o puts videos on darknet - Traunstein
Two men in Berlin accused of hundreds of
child sex abuse acts
Photo: DPA
AFP, news@thelocal.de
Two men went on trial in Germany Friday accused of more than 400 counts of child sex abuse and running a paedophile ring in Berlin that targeted boys as young as six.
The suspects, aged 51 and 53, face charges of sexual abuse of children and human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, according to the indictment read out in a Berlin district court.
The abuse allegedly occurred between 2002 and 2009 and involved 13 victims.
The youngest was aged six, while the others were between the ages of 10 and 13.
Prosecutors describe the suspects as being central to a paedophile network in the German capital that deliberately sought out boys from difficult backgrounds.
"The accused allegedly took advantage of this by offering to pay the boys for sexual services," court spokeswoman Lisa Jani told reporters.
The 51-year-old suspect stands accused of 379 instances of child abuse and acting as intermediary between the boys and other men, she added. His co-defendant faces 47 counts of abuse against minors.
2 more suspects may never face trial
Two other suspects aged 78 and 80 also face charges in connection with the case but the court has yet to determine if they are fit to stand trial.
Raped and forced to sleep with 17 men a day:
kidnapping trial starts
The accused in court on Wednesday. Photo: DPA
DPA/The Local
On Wednesday the trial started of a man who allegedly lured a woman into his car before holding her captive for weeks and forcing her into prostitution. But a big question mark surrounds whether he will be convicted.
According to prosecutors, the woman got to know her attacker over Facebook. She was living in Paderborn at the time. He was living in Mönchengladbach, a town two and a half hours to the southwest, near the Dutch border.
She wanted to return home to Bulgaria. Also Bulgarian, the man reportedly offered to give her a ride.
But the trip turned into a living nightmare, according to the prosecution’s statement, read at the start of the trial in Mönchengladbach.
The 34-year-old reportedly picked the woman up from her apartment in Paderborn in September 2016 and drove her to Mönchengladbach. Saying that they should stop for a coffee, he persuaded her to come into his house, according to prosecutors.
It was at this point that the series of horrific crimes allegedly started.
Once they were inside the apartment, he pulled her by the hair and began to rape her, the prosecutors said. When she tried to defend herself, he beat her unconscious. He then tied her to a chair and left her for two days and nights.
He then allegedly began to sell her for sex. She was instructed to always be nice to the clients - on average 17 of whom came every day, prosecutors report.
At the end of her day’s work, he came and picked her up before once again forcing her to have sex with him.
“She no longer dared to resist him,” said prosecutor Alena Sellhorst.
On one occasion, while her captor wasn’t present, the woman reportedly was able to call her brother who told her to run away. Her first attempt failed.
But in the second try, she was able to come by some money and rode in a taxi to Paderborn and then Dortmund. From there, she hoped to travel home with a bus ticket her grandmother had bought her.
But at Dortmund bus station she saw men who were associates of her captor and went in fear to the police.
As an interpreter translated the charge in court, the accused repeatedly grinned. His lawyer said that he denied the charges and that he would make a statement later in the trial.
The defence lawyer also said that his client had a question for his alleged victim: “Why had she done this to him?” he wanted to know.
But the case is complicated by the fact that the woman, who is the prosecution’s lead witness, has told the court that she does not want to come to Germany to give a statement. The court is considering whether she can give her account via video link.
Judge Ralf Gerads made clear at the start of the trial on Wednesday how complicated proceedings would be without a lead witness. Other prostitutes who the woman named as witnesses have not yet been found.
Nor are they likely to be.
Investigations will continue as the trial progresses.
Mönchengladbach, Germany
Suspect confesses to rape in Munich university toilet
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Photo: DPA.
DPA/The Local
A 25-year-old man confessed on Wednesday to the rape of a female student inside a bathroom at the prestigious Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. But police say he may have also been involved in another attempted rape.
Police said the young man had followed a female student last Friday into a women’s bathroom at the university, forced the door to her stall open and then raped her. The student, also 25, had unsuccessfully tried to fight back despite still recovering from a broken arm, biting him so hard on his hand that he bled.
She tried to talk to him and he told her that he was Max, 20 years old, and a second semester mathematics student. But police said that this information turned out to be false.
The victim was treated again for her fractured arm and also suffered bruises and scratch wounds from the incident.
Police now say he claims to be a physics student at the Technical University, but officials have not yet verified this information.
According to the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, two women aside from the reported rape victim told police independently of one another that an unknown man had been hanging around the women’s bathroom.
One 33-year-old student told police she saw an unknown man loitering by the bathroom. Another 20-year-old woman reported that a man had tried to barge into her stall, but she pushed back with all her might on the door and screamed loudly.
Officers went to the building the second woman described and the 25-year-old man was found by police near the bathroom. Police recognized him based on the witness descriptions. But as they tried to check his identity, he resisted and tried to hit or push officers, injuring one officer’s hand.
Finally, he was arrested. The suspect also had a wound on his hand, though it is still being investigated as to whether it matches the injury the rape victim said she inflicted upon her attacker. DNA tests are also pending.
Traunstein and Munich, Germany
Man arrested for recording repeated
sexual abuse of 8-year-old girl
Photo released of the suspect: Bundeskriminalamt/dpa
DPA/The Local
A man in Bavaria accused of recording himself sexually abusing a young girl has been arrested, just hours after police released his photo in a public manhunt.
Prosecutors said on Friday that the 27-year-old man from Traunstein was arrested on Thursday evening, after officials had released his photo to the public earlier that day.
The man is accused of sexually abusing the girl when she was eight to nine years old at least 26 times between 2014 and 2015. He took photos and videos of the abuse and shared them online to a child porn platform through the darknet.
The suspect had also posted photos of himself online.
"The fact that photos of the suspect were found on the darknet is unusual," said public prosecutor Georg Ungefuk.
Some perverts are unusually stupid.
Investigators had released the man’s photo on Thursday, describing him as “dark blond” and likely with blue eyes. They said the release of the photo had brought in numerous tips and they were then able to identify and arrest him.
Investigators told DPA that they had a large amount of evidence and “substantial leads”. During a search of the suspect’s apartment, police seized two computers, two smartphones, as well as USB-sticks and external hard drives.
So far there is no evidence of other victims.
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