Freiburg (dpa / lsw) – The man on the dock takes note of the judgment without moving. As the presiding judge says, he has confessed to the crimes that he is accused of before the Freiburg Regional Court. On Wednesday, almost exactly one month after the trial began, the court ruled that the former head of a Protestant scout group in Staufen near Freiburg was sentenced to eight years in prison with subsequent preventive detention for more than 100 times child sexual abuse. The 42-year-old also has to pay a total of 18,000 euros in pain compensation to two of the four victims.
“We are dealing with serious crimes that have occurred over a very long period of time,” said the presiding judge in the reasoning for the judgment. The former head of a Protestant scout group in the small town south of Freiburg had specifically selected elementary school children to offend them: “His sexual interests are aimed exclusively at pre-adolescent male children.” This was confirmed by an expert in the criminal trial. He therefore assumed a great risk that preventive detention was the appropriate answer. He could face therapy behind bars.
The court sentenced the former employee of the Evangelical Church for child abuse in 124 cases. According to the court, the man had committed four boys from January 2010 to August 2018. At the time of the offenses, these were 7 to 14 years old. To date, they have been traumatized and suffered from the consequences of the abuse, said the presiding judge.
From 1999 to 2011, the church employee was accused of being group leader of the Protestant scout group in Staufen with a three-year interruption. There he was responsible for the care of primary school children. He met two of the victims at the boy scouts. He had had contact with the other two boys about leisure activities and at a campsite. The police had arrested the German in late February 2019.
With the sentence, the court moves close to the demands of the public prosecutor. The previous day, she applied for eight and a half years in preventive detention. Prosecutor Nikola Novak is satisfied on Wednesday after reading the verdict. Defense lawyer Stephan Althaus may not comment publicly.
The Evangelical State Church in Baden comments shocked after the judgment about the abuse. “Our deepest sympathy goes to those affected and their relatives,” explains Bishop Jochen Cornelius-Bundschuh: “We are shocked by the extent of the crime that has now become known.”
The convict has now been tried for child abuse. From 2004 to 2007 he was investigated according to the public prosecutor on suspicion of child abuse. At the time, however, there was a statement against a statement, the Freiburg Regional Court legally acquitted the man in an appeal. The church then kept him busy with the scouts and had him look after primary school children. The acts of abuse occurred and were now tried in court.
“The Baden State Church has hired an external lawyer, who is currently reviewing how it came to being employed,” said the state bishop on Wednesday. “From today’s perspective, it was a misjudgment that we deeply regret.” At the time, however, the judiciary was deliberately trusted.
The judgment of Wednesday is not yet final. According to court information, those involved in the process can file a revision (file number: 15 KLs 160 Js 6850/19 – AK 2/19). At first, the parties did not want to comment on the question of whether to use this remedy.
Meanwhile, the judiciary is continuing to investigate the scouting process. According to the authorities, a 28-year-old – also a supervisor of the scout group in Staufen – is suspected of having sexually abused two boys. The investigation against him is still ongoing, as a spokeswoman for the prosecutor said.
Staufen had been in the headlines about other sexual crimes against a boy. According to the judiciary, there is no connection with the allegations of abuse by the scouts.
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