Mönchengladbach (dpa / lnw) – In the trial for serious sexual abuse of children before the Mönchengladbach regional court, the two men accused will each be imprisoned for well over ten years, according to the will of the public prosecutor. In the first nationwide trial from the Bergisch Gladbach abuse complex, the prosecution requested sentences of 13 years and nine months and fourteen and a half years for the two defendants on Monday. The 39-year-old men from Viersen and Krefeld are said to have committed serious sexual child abuse in more than 100 cases, some of them jointly. They are also charged with producing, distributing and possessing child pornography.
The prosecutor credited the man from Krefeld with the fact that he had made a comprehensive confession shortly after his arrest at the beginning of November 2019 and thus spared the victims the need to testify in court. He also helped to identify other perpetrators and to solve crimes. The 39-year-old had admitted that he had regularly and severely sexually abused his now eleven-year-old daughter since 2016 and, from spring 2017, together with the co-defendant, his now twelve-year-old niece.
The second defendant from Viersen had admitted in the trial that he had violated his niece in some massive ways since 2015. He admitted a third of the accused and remained silent on the allegation of collective abuse.
The prosecutor said the defendants had “exchanged children like sex toys”. And further: “You created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in the children”. To do this, they had established a system of gifts in cash and in kind that was specifically geared towards reward and familiarization.
The father’s defense lawyer from Krefeld applied for a maximum of nine and a half years for his client on Monday. For the second defendant, his defense lawyer requested seven years. After 20 days of the trial, the judgments are to be announced on Friday afternoon.
The men got to know each other through an internet platform for pedophiles. The abuse scandal was first uncovered in Bergisch Gladbach. In total, there are now more than 200 identified suspects in the complex across Germany. The first judgments have already been made. In mid-August, the trial of a 43-year-old from Bergisch Gladbach, where the entire case had its outcome, began before the Cologne regional court. Investigators found vast amounts of child pornographic data in the family man’s house last October.
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