Staufen abuse case

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The Staufen abuse case is a case of sexual abuse of a boy and a girl by the boy's mother , her partner and a pedophile ring that occurred in Staufen im Breisgau from 2015 to 2017 .

Due to the brutality of the acts - the State Criminal Police Office of Baden-Württemberg described the crimes as the most serious case of child sexual abuse that the police in Baden-Württemberg has ever dealt with - as well as the involvement of predominantly police-known previous convictions as well as the mother of the victim, the case also aroused great international proportions media attention.

Deeds

In the Staufen abuse case, a three-year-old girl was sexually abused by his mother and her partner from February 2015, and then from early summer 2015 onwards, a boy who was seven years old at the beginning of the acts. The woman and her partner are accused of having committed sexual acts on the two victims both individually and jointly. In addition, the two of them referred the boy to other perpetrators for money, who abused, tortured, humiliated and filmed the child. The partner and the mother were partly involved in the attacks by third parties themselves. The boy was brutally abused and raped in front of the camera, including by his mother. In addition to physical violence, he was also put under pressure with the threat that he would have to go to a reformatory if he did not do what his mother and her partner asked.

One of the motives of the perpetrator couple, in addition to the satisfaction of sexual and power needs, was the high sums of money that they were able to achieve through abuse of the boy by third parties and through videos. Videos in which the mother abused the boy were also made to order.

According to the mother's partner, the two of them “made a living” with the money the suitors paid for rape. They also made this clear to the boy so that he would not fight back or refuse. So that the boy cried less during the crimes, the perpetrators announced to him in advance how he would be abused.

The second victim, the slightly disabled three-year-old daughter of a friend of the mother's, was sexually abused in at least four cases, in which both of the suspects were allegedly involved.

The boy now lives in a qualified foster family . He does not comment on the crimes or the perpetrators. He only had contact with his mother initially. The responsible youth welfare office has declared that it wants to exhaust all therapeutic and medical aids to enable the boy to lead a normal life.

The case had triggered a lot of media coverage, especially because of the mother's active participation. Psychologists today assume that mothers are rarely just victims of family abuse.

Role of the authorities

The authorities were also criticized for failing to prevent the acts despite their partner's previous convictions. The boy had already been in the care of the youth welfare office several times , the authority had looked after him from an early age. Possible sexual assaults also recently played a role. According to the District Office Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald the police have pointed to a possible danger to the child in March 2017. Therefore, we have taken the child from the family. However, the family court sent the student back to the perpetrator couple after just under a month. The court forbade the man, who according to the court was at risk of relapse, from having contact with the child. However, he and the mother did not adhere to the requirements and continued the then undiscovered series of rape. According to L., abuse occurred several times a week. Compliance with the requirements was not checked by the youth welfare office or by the two courts involved, for which the authorities subsequently made each other responsible. The authorities did not consider the mother to be tolerated or even to be involved in possible acts of abuse as unimaginable and trusted the woman. According to information from the public prosecutor's office in Freiburg, almost 15 criminal complaints were filed by citizens against those responsible for the youth welfare office and judges at the two courts involved.

Even a phone call from the boy's class teacher at the youth welfare office did not lead to any consequences. The teacher had learned from the mother of a classmate that the boy had to be “undressed and looked at” by his mother's friend. It is unclear whether he gave further details. At the time of the call, the office already knew about the mother's relationship with the relevant criminal record and that the mother, as a friend of the mother, had access to the boy in her apartment in Staufen, and that, contrary to the requirements, he even lived there at least temporarily. The school principal also later unsuccessfully asked the youth welfare office whether something had happened in the matter. The responsible clerk later stated in court that the description was too vague for him. He wrote down the phone number given to him for the family of his classmate, but did not call them. He also did not pass the information on to the police or the courts, which were already dealing with the boy at the time.

The regional council of Freiburg prepared a test report on the actions of the youth welfare office as legal supervisor.

The psychologist, with whom L. had to take therapy lessons on the instructions of the court, was also criticized. The psychologist had issued the test subject at his own request with a certificate stating that he posed “no danger to boys”. According to the Forensic Ambulance Baden (FAB), the psychologist should not have certified this. The rule is to have them checked first by the management of the FAB in order to rule out courtesy reports.

After the mother was arrested, the boy was taken back into the care of the youth welfare office.

After the offenses were uncovered, a working group was founded with the participation of the youth welfare office, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Karlsruhe and the Freiburg district court. This should learn lessons from the case and improve future processes and communication between the police, justice and youth welfare offices and discuss controls. At the level of the state of Baden-Württemberg, the abuse case was also dealt with by a working group of the Ministry of the Interior, Justice and Social Affairs. A child protection concept stipulated further training for employees of youth welfare offices.

Experts like the psychiatrist and appraiser Jörg Fegert and the Federal Abuse Commissioner Johannes Rörig demanded that the role of the courts and authorities be reviewed by the state. Rörig explained: "It is really a case of nationwide importance - and this case must be fully clarified."

In the final report of a working group of the Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe (OLG) as well as the District Court of Freiburg and the District Office Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald admitted these omissions. Not all research possibilities were exhausted and existing information was not passed on "as early as possible".

Exposure

In February 2015, the US FBI arrested the administrator of a pedophile platform. Subsequently, more than 800 users worldwide were arrested. One of the active participants could be narrowed down to the Breisgau area.

At the beginning of 2016, the FBI informed the public prosecutor's office about the user from Breisgau. The investigators identified him as the already convicted Christian L. Whether the information was passed on is unclear, but the process had no consequences for Christian L.

In the meantime, L. moved in with the mother and the boy. During this time, the boy was further abused by the two. The boy was temporarily stolen from his mother in March 2017 when it became known that she was in a relationship with a sex offender with a relevant criminal record. The district court also sentenced L. to four months in prison. However, this judgment did not become final because, according to the prosecutor, the man had appealed against it. In addition, the authorities saw no evidence of specific abuse of the nine-year-old. Since the family court and the higher regional court did not assume that the boy was also threatened by his mother, he was sent back to her.

It was not until September 2017 that the BKA finally received a reference to films and pictures that were circulating on the Internet and which showed the abuse of the boy , regardless of the earlier reports without consequences . Within a few days, the traces could be traced back to Christian L. and Berrin T. After the two were arrested, more and more of the boy's rapists were tracked down and arrested, in particular with the help of L.

Main culprit

Michaela Berrin T., the boy's unemployed mother, had been known to the youth welfare office for years as unstable. There were complaints about the neglect of the apartment and lack of care for the child. The mother lived in a small apartment with her son and later with Christian L. Among other things, there was abuse of the son, in which the mother was also involved. In addition to the Youth Welfare Office also knew District Court and Court of Appeal of the relationship of the mother with the recidivism being at risk child abuser Christian L. The mother prepared the boy for rape, raped him, filmed and was the men present at most deeds. The videos recorded by the perpetrators show, among other things, that T. goes to a park with her son, L. abuses him there and T. holds her own son while he tries again and again to tear himself away.

The mother also made videos with her son on her own initiative.

In the chat logs of the mother and her partner evaluated by the police, there were conversations in which the two planned the next rapes of the boy. Among other things, the sentence "Tell him that he has to start earning money" came up.

According to statements by police officers, the mother showed no real remorse even afterwards and was reluctant to speak up. She did not ask about her son after her arrest. This burdened her son. Instead, the mother felt sorry for herself and was especially concerned about getting tobacco.

Christian L., the mother's unemployed partner, had a relevant criminal record. As early as 2005, he had been sentenced to one year probation for possession of child pornography and was ordered to take therapy against his sexual tendencies. In 2010 he was convicted of sexually abusing a 13-year-old woman and served four years in prison. The judge refused preventive detention because he “deserved a chance”, confessed and was also ready for therapy. By order of the judge, he should be closely monitored, as he was considered to be at risk of relapse. Contact with children and young people was forbidden by law. L. comes from the neighboring Münstertal and was active in many clubs. His previous convictions were known to those around him. L. was a participant in a special prevention program run by the police and the judiciary for sex offenders: after his release from prison in February 2014, he was included in the KURS program (“Concept for dealing with sex offenders who are particularly at risk of relapse”).

The couple had met at the table . Both were sent there by the job center as a work measure. Although both of the main perpetrators were unemployed, they repeatedly bought expensive luxury goods such as large flat screens, hi-fi systems or game computers. A flat screen is said to have been a present from one of the customers.

The couple was arrested on September 16, 2017 when they wanted to pick up a new suitor from the train station.

In contrast to his mother, L. cooperated with the police after his arrest and provided valuable information, without which the police would not have been able to identify some of the other suspects. The boy refused his offer to send the boy a video message because he “didn't want to see or hear anything anymore” from the perpetrators. At the end of his criminal trial's lawyer L. pleaded the express wish of a preventive detention after serving the sentence. His wish is to be treated.

Legal processing

The Freiburg public prosecutor brought charges against the mother and her partner in March 2018. The mother is accused of a total of 50 acts, her partner 46 acts. They were charged, among other things, with serious sexual abuse of children, serious rape, serious forced prostitution, and distribution, possession and acquisition of child pornography. In August 2018 Michaela Berrin T. was sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison, Christian L. to twelve years. Since he already had a relevant criminal record, preventive detention was ordered for Christian L. Christian L.'s defense attorney wants to appeal for reasons of time. The boy's mother accepted the verdict, so it is final.

In addition to the mother and her partner, six other people were in custody or were sentenced to several years in prison in January 2018. The other perpetrators, like Christian L., are almost exclusively repeat offenders known to the police with relevant criminal records .

One of the other perpetrators, the 41-year-old unskilled worker Markus K. from the Freiburg area, who had a criminal record for serious child abuse , is an acquaintance of Christian L. from their joint imprisonment in the Freiburg prison . After his release from his first sentence, he had been placed under conduct supervision but only under the mildest category. Because of the renewed cases of abuse, he was sentenced in April 2018 to a total imprisonment of ten years for rape, serious sexual abuse of children, dangerous bodily harm, violation of regulatory supervision and for acquiring and possessing child pornography . In addition, the subsequent preventive detention was ordered. Markus K. also has to pay damages of 12,500 euros to the victim. The judgment is now final because the defense withdrew the appeal.

Knut S., a 50-year-old member of the German Armed Forces, staff sergeant of a Franco-German battalion, made a confession and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Since this is his first relevant conviction, no preventive detention was ordered. He was accused of particularly serious rape in two cases, serious sexual abuse of children, particularly serious forced prostitution, the dissemination and acquisition of child pornography, dangerous bodily harm, aiding and abetting the serious mistreatment of wards, insulting and violation of the very personal sphere of life by taking pictures. S. requested revision .

The 43-year-old Daniel V from Schleswig-Holstein with a relevant criminal record was charged with contacting Christian L. with the aim of sexually abusing the boy and committing other very serious crimes. Among other things, he had talked to L. about murdering the boy after the abuse. He was arrested on the way to rape the boy in Karlsruhe. He owned large amounts of particularly cruel child pornography and had also offered his own three-year-old son for abuse. In preparation for this, V. had already rented a holiday apartment in the Harz Mountains and administered sleeping pills and ointments to his son as a test . He had also played out a gruesome sex murder of a child with another criminal for hours. V. has been under management supervision since his release from prison and was included in the “Kiel Security Concept for Sexual Offenders” (KSKS). Daniel V. was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment with subsequent preventive detention and went on appeal.

A lawsuit was also brought against a 37-year-old Swiss. He was charged with serious rape, serious sexual abuse of children, distribution, possession and acquisition of child pornography, particularly serious forced prostitution and dangerous physical harm. For these crimes he was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment and subsequent preventive detention. He also has to pay the boy 14,000 euros in compensation for pain and suffering.

A 32-year-old Spaniard was arrested in connection with the abuse case in his home country. He is accused of sexual abuse of children, serious rape, forced prostitution and distribution, and possession and acquisition of child pornography. According to L., the Spaniard had offered the mother of the victim and him to buy a house for a kind of shared apartment and to pay the mother and her partner 2,000 euros a month, if in return he could abuse the boy at any time. He had already visited houses and apartments for this purpose. According to the indictment, he had already paid the mother and her partner 10,000 euros for the crimes actually committed. According to the indictment, he rented holiday apartments for weekends for the acts. He moved into this for several days together with the child, his mother and her partner. There were multiple attacks, all three adults took part. In addition, there were excesses of violence. The Spaniard filmed the deeds and later also sold the films. The police got on his trail through the landlady of a vacation home. After she became suspicious, she photographed the registration number of the Spaniard's rental car while he was with the boy in the apartment. The Spaniard was sentenced in August 2018 to ten years in prison and the payment of 18,000 euros in pain and suffering.

In his homeland, he already had a criminal record for possession of child pornography. A review of videos found on the Spaniard revealed evidence of the murder of a girl by the Spaniard, together with a previously unknown accomplice, presumably in Belarus. That is why he is still being investigated.

In the course of dealing with the abuse case in Staufen, a 32-year-old from Neumünster (Schleswig-Holstein), who raped and filmed his own eight-year-old daughter several times, was also determined. He was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison by the district court in Kiel . He was not involved in the abuse of the boy.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Südwest Presse from June 1, 2018: [1]
  2. ↑ Südkurier of July 12, 2018: High burden for everyone involved in the Staufen case: How investigators deal with evil
  3. ↑ a b c Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 19, 2018: Chronology of a monstrous crime
  4. ↑ a b c d e n-tv of June 18, 2018: Child abuse in Staufen: stepfather burdens mother heavily in court
  5. ↑ When a child becomes a commodity. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , June 11, 2016
  6. ^ Abuse trial in Freiburg: mother and partner in court. In: Der Standard , June 11, 2016
  7. ^ German couple tried over rape, online selling of 9-year-old. In: Daily Mail , June 11, 2017
  8. ↑ Eight year sentence German soldier child rape case. In: Tribune Pakistan, May 16, 2018
  9. ^ German Police Arrest 8 Members of Suspected Pedophile Gang. In: US News & World Report , January 11, 2018
  10. ↑ German woman sold son, 9, to German pedophile ring. In: The Standard Hong Kong, January 12, 2018
  11. ↑ Mother, stepfather on trial in Germany for pimping son online. In: New Straits Times , June 11, 2018
  12. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of June 11, 2018: Main process in the Staufen case: a mother who sold her child
  13. ↑ Badische Zeitung of March 21, 2018: Staufen abuse case: A second child is said to have been abused
  14. ↑ a b c d e f g Stern of March 22, 2018: Pedophilia: Staufen abuse case: Many knew about it - nobody did anything
  15. ↑ a b c d e Der Spiegel from January 19, 2018: Child abuse in Breisgau
  16. ↑ a b Spiegel Online from June 18, 2018: Case of abuse in Staufen: The world of Christian L.
  17. ↑ a b Der Spiegel of March 22, 2018: Indictment in the Staufen abuse case: Another child sexually abused
  18. ↑ Stern from March 22, 2018: Baden-Württemberg: Child abuse in Breisgau: There should be a second victim
  19. ↑ a b c d e f g Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of June 18, 2018: Why was it trusted?
  20. ↑ Spiegel Online from June 21, 2018: "It kept getting worse"
  21. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung of April 11, 2018: The authorities do nothing for five months
  22. ↑ a b c d e Die Welt from June 17, 2018: Possible authority failure: Citizens report the youth welfare office and judge in the case of abuse in Staufen
  23. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 5, 2018: Ex officio clueless
  24. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung of July 5, 2018: Judge admits that she fell for the mother
  25. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 5, 2018: The lack of information exchange between the institutions is obvious
  26. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung of January 12, 2018: Pedophile Ring in Baden-Württemberg
  27. ↑ Südwestrundfunk from June 9, 2018: Abuse case - processing at state level
  28. ↑ Südkurier from January 19, 2018: After the abuse case in Staufen: This is how the state of Baden-Württemberg wants to protect children better
  29. ↑ Land should come to terms with child abuse from Staufen. In: ARD, June 5, 2018
  30. ↑ Abuse officer in Staufen: "The number of unreported cases is incredibly large." In: Tagesschau, June 11, 2018
  31. ↑ a b c Südwestrundfunk from January 16, 2018: Smashed pedophile ring in Breisgau Police see incriminating hard drive
  32. ↑ a b Schwäbische Zeitung of April 12, 2018: Abuse of a child: The monstrous happening next door
  33. ↑ Südkurier of July 1, 2018: The perfidious couple: What connects the two main defendants in the Staufen abuse trial
  34. ↑ a b Südkurier from July 1, 2018: The perfidious couple of the abuse case in Staufen
  35. ↑ Die Welt vom July 5, 2018: The Policeman's Slack Feeling
  36. ↑ a b Südwest Presse of June 26, 2018: Freiburg abuse trial: Mother's motive remains unclear
  37. ↑ a b Spiegel Online from January 16, 2018: Case of abuse in Breisgau: "This is a strong man, you mustn't come into conflict with him"
  38. ↑ Stern (magazine) of January 24, 2018: Pedophile ring in Breisgau: The alleged main perpetrator was in a prevention program for sex offenders
  39. ↑ Spiegel Online from June 11, 2018: Case of abuse in Staufen: Hundred pages of cruelty
  40. ↑ Südwest Presse of June 27, 2018: Your first concern was tobacco
  41. ↑ a b Südwestrundfunk from July 13, 2018: Main process in the Staufen abuse case - Christian L. demands his own preventive detention
  42. ↑ Die Welt vom August 1, 2018: Own son sold - Defense demands nine and a half years in prison
  43. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of August 1, 2018: Defense lawyer calls for more than nine years in prison for mother
  44. ↑ Augsburger Allgemeine from August 7, 2018: Abuse Trial: The Ice Cold Mother and the Child Abuser
  45. ↑ a b Südwestrundfunk from January 25, 2018: Abuse scandal in Staufen: Suspects had a relevant criminal record
  46. ↑ Abuse scandal in Staufen: suspects had a relevant criminal record | South Baden | Baden-Württemberg | SWR News | SWR.de. May 11, 2018, accessed June 21, 2020 .
  47. ↑ a b Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of April 18, 2018: Young is said to have been abused more than 50 times
  48. ↑ Badische Zeitung of April 19, 2018: Staufen abuse case: Markus K. sentenced to 10 years in prison and preventive detention
  49. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung of July 29, 2018: Defense backs down
  50. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung of May 9, 2018: Staufen abuse case: Soldier admits abuse
  51. ↑ Badische Zeitung of May 20, 2018: Case of abuse: Knut S. sentenced to eight years in prison without preventive detention
  52. ↑ a b c Badische Zeitung of February 14, 2018: Further charges raised in the Staufen abuse case
  53. ^ Staufen abuse case: Defendant developed script for child abuse. In: Badische Zeitung, June 7, 2018
  54. ↑ Südkurier of June 25, 2018: Witness in the abuse process describes gruesome details
  55. ↑ Südwest Presse of June 25, 2018: Contradictions in the process
  56. ↑ shz.de of July 6, 2018: Abuse judgment: Daniel V. appeals
  57. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 2, 2018: Swiss sentenced to nine years in prison
  58. ^ Badische Zeitung of April 18, 2018: Further indictments in the Staufen abuse case against Spaniards
  59. ↑ a b Stuttgarter Zeitung of July 26, 2018: I inflicted great suffering on the boy
  60. ↑ t-online.de of July 8, 2018: Staufen abuse case: court plans trial against Spaniards
  61. ↑ Südwestrundfunk from July 26, 2018: The accused 33-year-old Spaniard makes confession
  62. ↑ a b Case of abuse in Staufen: Ten years imprisonment for 33-year-olds , Süddeutsche Zeitung , August 6, 2018
  63. ↑ a b Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 27, 2018: Defendant also under suspicion of murder
  64. ↑ Norddeutscher Rundfunk from January 12, 2018: Child abuse: Two men from SH in custody