Lügde abuse case

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The Lügde abuse case is a criminal case of serious sexual abuse of children and the production and distribution of child pornography in Lügde in North Rhine-Westphalia . The scene of the crime was the Eichwald campsite in the Elbrinxen district between the beginning of 2008 and the arrest of the main culprit on December 6, 2018. The Detmold public prosecutor's office assumes 1,000 individual offenses within around 10 years. The case was made public on January 29, 2019 by the investigating authorities. In addition, the case expanded into a police scandal.

The trial against the three main perpetrators began on June 27, 2019 at the Detmold Regional Court and ended on September 5, 2019 with the sentencing of two defendants to 13 years and a 12-year prison term with subsequent preventive detention. On July 17, 2019, the district court imposed a suspended sentence of two years on a co-defendant in a separate proceeding .

Suspects and incidents

The main perpetrators are three men. The 56-year-old single and unemployed main suspect Andreas V. from Lügde had been living on a campsite in the Elbrinxen district of Lügde for over 30 years. As a permanent camper, he lived in a self-built wooden hut and used a caravan. He's sitting since December 6 2018 trial detention ; the other two main suspects have been detained since January 10 and 11, 2019, respectively.

The main accused Andreas V. and the 33-year-old unemployed suspect Mario S. from Steinheim are said to have abused children at the campsite and filmed the crime. The third, 48-year-old suspect Heiko V. from Stade was the client for it. He is said to have never been to Lügde, but followed and controlled the events via the Internet.

The main suspect came into contact with children by becoming the foster father of a then six-year-old girl. Most of the attacks are said to have occurred since that time. The main suspect established contact with other children through the girl and created a pleasant atmosphere, for example by going to the swimming pool.

In the course of the investigation, the group of perpetrators expanded to include five other suspects for frustrating and aiding and abetting to a total of eight people. Another suspect is a 16-year-old boy who is believed to have owned child pornography that was created on the campsite.

Victim

In the course of the investigation, 31 victims between the ages of 4 and 13 were initially known, 27 girls and four boys from the vicinity of the campsite. They have been victims of sexual abuse in more than 1,000 cases. One of the victims was the girl, who was taken into the care of the prime suspect in 2016 as a foster child.

On March 14, 2019, the North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) reported to the Interior Committee of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia on at least 34 victims (28 girls and six boys) and another 14 suspected cases. In April 2019, the number rose to at least 40 children and twelve more suspected cases.

Exposure

As early as 2016, the Lippe police received two reports of sexual abuse by the main suspect, but these could not be substantiated even after two site visits by the Blomberg Youth Welfare Office, so the matter initially fizzled out. In 2018, a 9-year-old revealed to her mother that she had been sexually abused at the campsite in Lügde in June / July 2018. However, the mother only reported to the police in Bad Pyrmont on October 20, 2018 for fear of the accused . On October 20, 2018, the mother and child were questioned at the Bad Pyrmont police station. In this hearing, the 9-year-old gave information about multiple sexual abuse by the main accused to her disadvantage and to the disadvantage of his foster daughter, with whom the girl was friends. Police officers forwarded the information to the youth welfare office, but took no further action.

Investigations and Evidence

District police authority Lippe and investigative commission "Camping"

After a complaint was filed with the Bad Pyrmont police station on October 20, 2018, on suspicion of serious sexual abuse, the investigation was forwarded to the responsible Lippe district police authority in Detmold on November 12, 2018 , where it took over the police station for sexual offenses. On November 13, 2018, the Lippe district police authority informed the Blomberg Youth Welfare Office by telephone about the findings on the sexual abuse of the foster daughter. On the same day, the 6-year-old girl was taken into care by employees of the Blomberg Youth Welfare Office. Due to various postponements caused by the child's mother, the hearing of the girl did not take place until November 28, 2018. At this hearing, the mother gave an indication of another victim from her circle of friends.

On December 4, 2018, the Lippe District Police Department applied to the Detmold District Court for a search warrant for the homes of the main accused (including the object on the campsite in Lügde) and a warrant for pre-trial detention. This was granted the following day, and on December 6, 2018, the main suspect Andreas V was arrested and numerous pieces of evidence were seized.

On December 13, 2018, the Lippe district police authority set up the Investigation Commission (EK) "Camping" with initially four officers and increased the number on December 17, 2018 to eight or temporarily nine officers. By December 16, 2018, the Lippe district police authority reported nine cases of serious sexual abuse of children that had been established to be significant evidence and the measures initiated in this regard to the North Rhine-Westphalia State Criminal Police Office , which then passed this report on to the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Interior.

In the further course of the processing of the case, it became public on February 21, 2019 that evidently for several weeks evidence in the form of 155 data carriers had disappeared in an unexplained manner from an office of the Lippe district police authority without anyone being aware of it. The missing data carriers were last seen on December 20, 2018 and the loss was not noticed until mid-January 2019. The Detmold public prosecutor was first informed verbally on February 13, 2019 and in writing on February 14, 2019 about the disappearance of the evidence. On March 6, 2019, the Detmold public prosecutor opened criminal proceedings against unknown persons for theft.

The North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Reul spoke of the incident as a "police failure". The local authority admitted a “blatant mistake” by a commissariat candidate who had left a folder with 49 CDs and an aluminum case with 106 CDs on a desk, and commissioned an independent commissariat head to investigate. The commissioner candidate sighted 155 data carriers. According to the logging of the evaluation software, the IT support officers of the Lippe district police authority had until then five external hard drives, 18 hard drives built into computers, three CD / DVDs, twelve SD and microSD cards, ten cell phones and tablets, nine USB sticks and five digital cameras (DigiCam) sighted. The Bund Deutscher Kriminalbeamter (BDK) spoke of a "disaster" for the reputation of the police in view of the missing evidence. The chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalian regional association of the BDK pointed out the tense personnel situation in the police and judiciary for years. The Detmold public prosecutor announced that, in their opinion, the evidence had not been stolen, but could not be found due to careless handling, but that theft could not be ruled out either. According to the special investigator of the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia, the material still available is sufficient to convict the main suspect.

On February 22, 2019, the head of administration, District Administrator Axel Lehmann (SPD), apologized to those affected by the abuse case and released the head of the crime department of the Lippe district police authority from performing his duties. The North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Interior also initiated an examination of the processes by the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia . On February 26, 2019, the Lippe district police authority announced in a press release that the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Interior had "set up new management at short notice". By order of Interior Minister Reul, the police director of the Lippe district police authority was also transferred. Reul reported that the investigations led by the Bielefeld Police Headquarters since January 31, 2019 had been divided into two complexes: "sexual abuse" and "official investigations". On February 26, 2019, the Bielefeld Police Headquarters informed the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Interior that the investigative commission "Official Investigations" had discovered a very extensive tabular overview of the Lippe district police authority, in which references to sexual offenses were listed and which had apparently been updated since 1999. Diary numbers are listed for individual references, but not for others. Under the date January 28, 2002, the suspicion was entered that the now main accused had abused a then 8-year-old girl. Since no corresponding diary number was recorded for this purpose, it was still being checked whether an investigation had been initiated by the Lippe district police authority at the time.

On March 12, 2019, the Lippe district police authority announced that disciplinary and criminal proceedings were being initiated against two officers due to incorrect processing. According to an internal assessment, there were “serious deficiencies in the processing”.

On March 14, 2019, following a criminal complaint from the police chief in Detmold, the previous head of the investigative commission "Camping" into the Lügde abuse case was suspended. He is suspected of thwarting the criminal offense in another sexual offense "to the detriment of an adult woman" and of breaking the seal in two further investigations. He was in charge of the investigation from December 18, 2018 to January 4, 2019; he was transferred.

Police headquarters Bielefeld and BAO "Eichwald"

On January 31, 2019, the Bielefeld Police Headquarters set up the special organizational structure (BAO) "Eichwald", which consisted of the previous investigators of the Investigation Commission "Camping" and investigators from the Bielefeld Criminal Police. In February 2019 the head of the BAO "Eichwald" was released from his duties. When asked by the WDR , the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Interior announced the justification: "This was done as a precautionary measure to prevent the appearance that in this case the objectivity and neutrality of the investigation could not be guaranteed." Under the new management of the BAO with around 60 officials and 24 IT specialists, the investigations and evaluations of the evidence continued.

On February 22, 2019, the crime scene was recorded again on the campsite and in the apartment by specialists from the State Criminal Police Office and the Bielefeld Police Headquarters. Additional evidence was found, including a computer, hard drive and 131 CDs. During the previous searches by the Lippe district police authority on December 6, 2018, as well as after the formation of the “Camping” investigative commission and the further searches on December 19, 2018 and January 19 and 25, 2019, this evidence had not yet been found on the main suspect. During renewed searches, including on February 27, 2019 with a data carrier detection dog , further material was found and confiscated, including a USB stick .

Three investigators who were involved in the sighting have been unable to work since the end of February 2019 due to the psychological stress. A man and a woman are permanently no longer operational.

With the decision of the Detmold District Court, the caravan used by the main suspect was examined again on March 5, 2019. The BAO "Eichwald" could not examine the caravan earlier because the procedure taken over by the Lippe district police authority is said to have been very unstructured. The home of a suspect in Steinheim was also searched, where several documents and CDs were found in the basement. By March 6, 2019, a total of five caravans, two apartments, a basement room and a car had been searched.

After the public prosecutor released the main suspect's wooden hut where the abuse took place in April 2019, the operator of the campsite had it demolished. The demolition contractor discovered another three CDs and two floppy disks. According to the police, the CDs and floppy disks were not found during the police searches because they were hidden in a cavity in the floor that was only exposed during the demolition work. The demolition contractor, however, asserted that he had never said that like that. It was initially unclear whether the data carriers contained child pornographic material. The demolition contractor also discovered over 10 video cassettes. According to the police, however, these contained "no content relevant to criminal law, but entertainment programs". The investigators ruled out that they came from the home of the main suspect. During the demolition work it turned out that the police and the public prosecutor's office had overlooked one of the main suspect's equipment shed at the campsite. The demolition company disposed of several boxes of contents, which may have destroyed evidence.

Joint responsibility of the youth welfare offices and the police authorities

In the course of the investigation, there were indications of serious failures in the proceedings of the police, youth welfare offices and family support organizations, which led to the initiation of investigations against a total of 14 suspects at the aforementioned authorities by the Detmold public prosecutor's office. These concerned eight employees of the youth welfare offices of the Lower Saxony district of Hameln-Pyrmont and the North Rhine-Westphalian district of Lippe , four employees of family aid organizations (responsible for checking Andreas V and his foster daughter) and two police officers from the Lippe district. The public prosecutor's office in Hamm, as the supervisory authority of the Detmold public prosecutor's office, did not see sufficient reasons for investigations against the two police officers and youth welfare officers in an initial assessment; a further report is required for a final assessment.

The main suspect is said to have abused an eight-year-old girl on the campsite in 2008. In August 2016, a father passed on information to the police, the youth welfare office and the child protection association. The police turned on the youth welfare office, but did not investigate. There was also no notice to the public prosecutor's office. On November 18, 2016, an employee of the Blomberg job center gave information about statements made by the main suspect that could indicate sexual abuse after Andreas V. appeared at the job center with a girl. Again, the police only passed the information on to the youth welfare office and refrained from conducting their own investigation.

In August 2016, an employee of the child protection association from the Hameln-Pyrmont district reported possible child abuse. A father of two girls had previously reported to the employee with allegations. The youth welfare office of the Hameln-Pyrmont district wanted to examine the case.

In September 2016 a psychologist in the nursery school of the foster child expressed the assumption that the foster father and later the main suspect could be “ pedophilia involved ”. The youth welfare office of the district of Hameln-Pyrmont saw no evidence of this.

On October 20, 2016, there was another indication of sexual abuse at the campsite by the police in Bad Pyrmont when a mother filed a complaint. The youth welfare office of the Hameln-Pyrmont district had given a six-year-old girl as a foster child into the care of the main suspect in 2016. This was done at the request of the mother, who lives in the Hameln-Pyrmont district. In autumn 2016, the youth welfare office of the Lippe district received an indication of the suspicion of neglect of the foster child, and the youth welfare office then recommended a different living environment for the child to the Hameln-Pyrmont district due to the latent child welfare risk . Despite reports and police investigations, the foster child of Andreas V was not taken out of the custody of the perpetrator by the Lippe youth welfare office as initially planned on October 31, 2018, as initially planned, and placed in a standby foster family.

According to the District Administrator Tjark Bartels, the youth welfare office of the Hameln-Pyrmont district was accused of file manipulation. An employee is said to have given a "beautifying impression" of the situation in the family through a comment added at a later date, which resulted in release from his duties on February 15, 2019. According to Bartels, there was another file manipulation by an employee of the youth welfare office of the Hameln-Pyrmont district, who was also released from her duties. Shortly before the public prosecutor's office seized the youth welfare office files , she is said to have deleted an entry that referred to a genogram , according to which the main suspect repeatedly sought contact with younger girls and made them dependent.

Bartels admitted mistakes made by the youth welfare office in the Hameln-Pyrmont district. In 2016, when the office wanted to transfer the care of the child to the future main suspect, there were three independent indications of his possible pedophilia within five months.

Personnel reviews within the police

On March 9, 2019, a special investigator from the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia announced that there were three police officers working in the Lippe district police who had been noticed years ago with sexually motivated acts. None of them had been involved in an abuse investigation.

Motivated by the abuse scandal, the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Interior, according to its own statements, commissioned the State Office for Education, Training and Personnel Matters (LAFP) of the North Rhine-Westphalia police to search for previous cases. The LAFP reported to the ministry on March 12, 2019 in an initial information that in 14 of these cases in the last 10 years the officials concerned have either been removed from service, provisionally removed from service, or been banned from conducting official business are already retired.

Legal proceedings

In May 2019, the Detmold public prosecutor brought charges against the 56-year-old main suspect Andreas V. from Lügde before the Detmold district court. She accused him of 293 cases of sexual abuse of wards , serious sexual abuse of children and possession of child pornography. The crimes at the campsite span a period between the beginning of 2008 and December 2018 and the summer of 1998. They were directed against 22 child victims. Ten children are said to have been raped by him. He is said to have owned almost 880 pictures and videos with child pornographic content.

The 48-year-old suspect Heiko V. from Stade was also accused, who has participated in at least four cases in webcam broadcasts and is said to have previously expressly requested the abuse. Almost 43,000 child pornography images and videos were found on him.

The 33-year-old suspect Mario S. from Steinheim was also charged with 162 crimes against 17 children, as he is also said to have abused children and filmed them. In 2010 he rented a plot of land on the campsite, where he kept inviting children. He was initially seen as a fellow traveler and only after his arrest did the investigators realize the extent of his actions. According to research by media such as the NDR , the WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung , he has passed on children in different places for almost 20 years. He is said to have committed the first acts at the age of 15. According to a psychiatric report, there is a pedophile disorder and there is a high risk of relapse . The Detmold public prosecutor's office applied for preventive detention in the event of a conviction and demanded a sentence of 12 years and six months in prison.

On June 27, 2019, the trial against the main accused and two other accused began before the Detmold Regional Court. Of the estimated 40 alleged victims, 30 were admitted as joint plaintiffs . All three defendants made confessions on the first day of the trial.

According to a report by the NDR, the main defendant was classified at the end of July 2019 as "temporarily not negotiable". The main proceedings continued, but only against the second defendant, the 56-year-old's alleged accomplice.

On September 5, 2019, Andreas V was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment for serious sexual abuse of children in more than 200 cases, Mario S. received twelve years. The court also ordered subsequent preventive detention for both of them.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Abuse on the campsite in Lügde began more than ten years ago in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on February 26, 2019
  2. ↑ tagesschau.de: suspended sentence in the Lügde trial. Accessed July 31, 2019 .
  3. ↑ What you know about the abuse of Lügde at ntv from January 31, 2019
  4. ↑ Reiner Burger, Düsseldorf: Only 16 years old: Another suspect in Lügde abuse case . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed February 28, 2019]).
  5. ↑ Crime, agreed by email at Spiegel-Online on February 15, 2019
  6. ↑ Lügde: The main suspect's hut is being demolished. In: ndr.de. April 10, 2019, archived from the original on April 10, 2019 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b Ministry of the Interior North Rhine-Westphalia: Special meeting of the Interior Committee on February 26, 2019 with a timeline on the investigation complex "Lügde". In: landtag.nrw.de. February 26, 2019, accessed March 15, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Written report by the Minister of the Interior for the meeting of the Interior Committee on March 14, 2019 on the agenda item "Lügde case - further inquiries about the case and the investigations" on the motion of the Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen parliamentary group on March 4, 2019, page 4. In: landtag.nrw.de. March 13, 2019, accessed March 15, 2019 .
  9. ^ NDR: Lügde: Evidence gone - police speak of disaster. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Disappeared data in Lügde: "The colleagues have been working at the limit for years" . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed February 28, 2019]).
  11. ↑ Lügde: Suspect can be seen in pictures. In: ndr.de. March 22, 2019, archived from the original on March 22, 2019 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  12. ↑ District Administrator dismisses the head of the crime department at radio-lip from February 2, 2019
  13. ^ WDR broadcast Westpol: News about Lügde. In: www1.wdr.de. Westdeutscher Rundfunk , March 17, 2019, accessed on March 17, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Disappeared evidence: Lügde abuse turned into a police scandal . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed February 22, 2019]).
  15. ↑ Press release of the Lippe district police authority : Statement by the head of the authorities, Dr. Axel Lehmann. Retrieved February 28, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Lothar Schmalen: Lügde abuse case: More and more details about the police failure. In: www.nw.de. February 28, 2019, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  17. ^ WDR broadcast Westpol: News about Lügde. In: www1.wdr.de. Westdeutscher Rundfunk , March 17, 2019, accessed on March 17, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Lügde case: Police establish “further breaches of duty” during investigations. In: RP Online . March 12, 2019, accessed March 13, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Serious suspicion against investigators in the Lügde abuse case. In: Lippische Landes-Zeitung . March 14, 2019, accessed March 15, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Police failure that stunned In: Spiegel Online from March 14, 2019
  21. ↑ POL-BI: Joint press release by the Detmold public prosecutor, the Bielefeld police and the Lippe police on the serious abuse of children in Lügde, Lippe district at presseportal on February 1, 2019
  22. ↑ District Administrator Bartels: How could you overlook the abuse case? - Number of victims in Lügde rises to 29. In: Dewezet . February 1, 2019, accessed February 3, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Notices not followed up. Abuse in Lügde: Investigations against the police. In: n-tv.de . January 31, 2019, accessed February 3, 2019 .
  24. ^ WDR broadcast Westpol: News about Lügde. In: www1.wdr.de. Westdeutscher Rundfunk , March 17, 2019, accessed on March 17, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Police are searching the campsite again - and they find it on Spiegel Online on February 27, 2019
  26. ↑ Bielefeld police: Fifth joint press release by the Detmold public prosecutor and the Bielefeld police on serious sexual abuse - balance of the search for clues and securing of clues at the campsite. In: presseportal.de. March 1, 2019, accessed March 15, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Alice Mecke: Child Pornography: This is how artificial intelligence should help the investigators. In: Kiel News . August 5, 2019, accessed June 10, 2020 .
  28. ↑ a b Lügde abuse case: Numerous data carriers found on new suspect. In: owl24.de. January 15, 2020, accessed June 10, 2020 .
  29. ↑ Lügde abuse case: The chronology of failure in Lügde. In: RP online . March 14, 2019, accessed March 17, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Janet König: Abuse on camping site: excavator tears down Andreas V's barracks in: Landeszeitung Lippe from April 10, 2019
  31. ↑ a b c Britta von der Heide, Arne Hell: Lügde: Police overlooked data carriers at the crime scene. In: ndr.de. April 12, 2019, archived from the original on April 13, 2019 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  32. ↑ a b c d Britta von der Heide, Barbara Jung, Jana Stegemann: Lügde: Further data carriers emerged. In: ndr.de. April 16, 2019, archived from the original on April 16, 2019 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  33. ^ Britta von der Heide, Barbara Jung, Jana Stegemann: Lügde abuse case: Police overlooks shed. In: ndr.de. April 16, 2019, archived from the original on April 16, 2019 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  34. ↑ Britta von der Heide, Barbara Jung, Jana Stegemann: Lügde: evidence possibly destroyed. In: ndr.de. April 16, 2019, archived from the original on April 16, 2019 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  35. ↑ Error in the investigation of abuse: Police chief intervenes in Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung of February 23, 2019
  36. ↑ Police director after abuse in Lüdge transferred to Spiegel-Online on February 26, 2019
  37. ↑ 16-year-old suspicious of campsite abuse on Spiegel-Online on February 26, 2019
  38. ↑ Lügde abuse case: Investigators check suspicion of data deletion . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed February 28, 2019]).
  39. ↑ "Nothing would have happened to my daughter" - mother raises serious allegations In: Die Welt from February 14, 2019
  40. ↑ a b New mishaps and manipulations in the Lügde case. In: ndr.de. March 19, 2019, archived from the original on March 20, 2019 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  41. ↑ The questionable role of youth welfare offices in: Spiegel Online from January 31, 2019
  42. ^ Lisa Neugebauer: District Administrator Bartels admits: Hameln-Pyrmont Youth Welfare Office manipulated files. In: HAZ online. Retrieved February 28, 2019 .
  43. ↑ The youth welfare office already had evidence of pedophilia in 2016 In: Spiegel Online March 19, 2019
  44. ^ Lippe: three police officers charged with sexual offenses In: Westfalen-Blatt of March 11, 2019
  45. ↑ According to the Lügde case: Investigators find 15 cases of child pornography and abuse by the NRW police. In: www.nw.de. RP Online , March 13, 2019, accessed March 13, 2019 .
  46. ^ Lügde: The process started on June 27th. In: ndr.de. May 18, 2019, archived from the original on May 5, 2020 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  47. ^ A b c d Indictment in the Lügde case: Shocking details. In: ndr.de. May 17, 2019, archived from the original on May 30, 2019 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  48. ^ Lügde case: indictment against third accused. In: ndr.de. May 23, 2019, archived from the original on May 23, 2019 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  49. ↑ Stella Peters, Britte von der Heide: Lügde: the third accused was not a follower. In: ndr.de. May 29, 2019, archived from the original on May 30, 2019 ; accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  50. ↑ Friederike Hofmann (5.9.2019). "Exceptional suffering inflicted". tagesschau.de
  51. ↑ Lukas Eberle: Lügde - crime without example. Spiegel Online , June 27, 2019, accessed June 27, 2019.
  52. ↑ Annika Fischer: All defendants in the Lügde trial make confessions , in: waz.de of June 27, 2019, accessed on June 27, 2019.
  53. ^ NDR: Lügde: Main defendant not able to negotiate. Retrieved August 1, 2019 .
  54. ↑ Long prison sentences for abuse on campsites. Spiegel Online, September 5, 2019, accessed on the same day.