Again a woman is standing in front of the regional court in the abuse complex in Münster. This time it is the mother of a young victim. She also denies the allegations of serious sexual abuse.
Münster – The 31-year-old protects herself from the thunderstorm of flashlights from the photographers with a light-colored folder. The mother of an eleven-year-old victim in the Münster abuse complex reached the dock on Thursday with a slight stumbling step.
A black cap on his head, dressed entirely in black, his hair tied in a shoulder-length ponytail. In a slightly insecure voice, she gives information about the person in the Münster district court. She was single and born in Halberstadt in Saxony-Anhalt, not in Münster, as it is wrongly stated in the indictment.
At the beginning of the trial, the public will not find out more about the German for the time being. The six-page indictment is read in camera. The regional court of Münster has granted the application of the secondary suit on this step. The defense attorneys and the public prosecutor’s office see it that way too. To protect the victim.
The public prosecutor accuses the 31-year-old from Münster in nine cases of aiding and abetting through omission. The woman is said to have known of the serious sexual abuse of her own child by her partner since 2018. Occasionally, she is said to have encouraged her son to engage in sexual acts with the man.
In the main trial, he was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment and subsequent preventive detention in July 2021. The judgment against the 28-year-old is not yet final. The mother (46) of the IT technician is said to have been jailed for five years on charges of complicity. She had rejected the allegations as well as the now accused.
After the indictment was read out, the 31-year-old spoke in detail about her person, the allegations “she denies comprehensively”, as a court spokeswoman reported in the afternoon. Here too the public was excluded.
At the Münster Regional Court alone, the trial with the victim’s mother is the 13th hearing in the large abuse complex. Further proceedings have been or are being carried out at other regional courts throughout Germany. This involves severe sexual violence over a number of years by several men against a large number of children. There were several crime scenes in Germany, in neighboring countries and in a specially prepared – today demolished – gazebo in Münster. From inside there is hours of footage from a surveillance camera on which sexual violence against several children is documented.
On the first day of the trial, a witness from the youth welfare office of the city of Münster informed about the consequences of the acts on the young victim. In addition, an audio file was introduced as evidence, on which a dialogue between the defendant and her former partner can be heard. Nothing was known about the content.
The Regional Court of Münster has scheduled eight more trial days until the end of September. According to a court spokeswoman, the defendant faces a prison sentence of between 2 and 15 years if convicted. The district court must also decide on subsequent preventive detention.
On the next day of the trial on Tuesday, several perpetrators are to be heard as witnesses. Among them Adrian V, the former partner of the accused who is considered to be the main perpetrator. The IT technician can, however, refuse to make a statement.
Alongside Lügde and Bergisch Gladbach, Münster is one of three major abuse cases in North Rhine-Westphalia in recent years. The case came to light in June 2020 after investigations in the gazebo. In the course of this, there had been arrests in several federal states and abroad. Five men have already been sentenced to imprisonment in the offense. In total, the investigators identified more than 50 suspects, around 30 of whom are currently in custody. dpa
