The judge urges the mother: "Once you say the first word, everything must be right." An interpreter translates the words into Turkish. The witness nods. As the mother of a defendant, she may refuse to testify in court, the judge says. But if she speaks, then what she says must be true, otherwise she will be punished. "I can tell you the things that I know about," says the witness.
The 58-year-old is the mother of Denis W., 21. According to indictment, he is said to have stolen together with the co-defendants Wissam, Wayci and Ahmed Remmo a 100-pound gold coin worth about 3.75 million euros from the Berlin Bode Museum ,
The mother of Denis W. says that day at the request of the defense before the district court of Berlin. She is supposed to explain where her son suddenly had money from. Because Denis W. was interested in the time after the spectacular coup for real estate. Sometimes for a family home, sometimes for a shop. This is clear from phone calls that were recorded by the investigators. He could pay up to 100,000 euros, said Denis W. The investigators found in his accounts no indication of such a money supply.
The witness has a very harmless explanation for that. From her mother, they would have received 100,000 euros one to two years before the theft of the gold coin, she says. "And why does your mother have so much money?" Asks the judge. "My mother is wealthy, she comes from a rich family," says the witness. Her mother owns two apartments and two plots in southern Turkey. Denis' grandmother wanted to help the family buy a shop to build an existence.
"A nice bakery for 6000 euros"
Family W. moved from Saarland to Berlin in 2013. In the Saarland, they had a snack, similar they had intended in the capital. The witness says that they have been looking for a shop in Berlin since 2013. In 2015 - and not only after the theft of the gold coin in 2017 - they would have searched more intensively.
"In the summer of 2017, we found a nice bakery for 6,000 euros," says the witness in court, "that was a bargain." Actually, Denis and his sister should have run the store. But her daughter is studying and Denis has decided to go to school. So the parents ran the business in Berlin-Friedenau and the children supported them.
The grandmother, then. The prosecution has a completely different explanation for the apparent wealth of the accused, for his interest in real estate and expensive cars. A good three weeks before the theft of the gold coin, Denis W. had begun to work as an overseer in the Bode Museum. In the locker room, through which the thieves came in and out, he had a locker. The prosecution believes that it was he who led Wissam, Ahmad and Wayci Remmo to the gold coin. That he knew the alarm was off at the locker room window. That he knew that the gold coin case had only bulletproof glass and no other fuses. And that he also knew that the coin would disappear one day after the fact, on March 28, 2017, in the vault of the museum.
Gold traces and broken glass
The thieves might use the last chance they had. According to the indictment, they walked through the window of the locker room on March 27, 2017 between 3:20 and 3:50. They destroyed the showcase, heaved the gold coin on a skateboard and took it into the locker room. There they swept her through the window, transported them in a wheelbarrow over a S-Bahn embankment and let them down with a rope in a park. In a car they drove away with their prey. The thieves left behind a ladder, the style of an ax, a skateboard, a wheelbarrow and a rope. On some objects there were traces that led to the Remmos.
One police officer also recalled that in connection with another deed, a tank fraud, in the car of Denis W., he had noticed a plan of the Bode Museum with handwritten notes. And Denis W. is said to have been the only staff member of the watch and surveillance staff in the museum known for his Remmo. Denis W. and Ahmad Remmo know each other from the school. On a jacket and a glove, which assigns the prosecutor Wissam Remmo, found not only gold traces, but also glass splinters that match the scene.
These are indications, but are they enough for a conviction? The lawyers say the apartment where the clothes were found was used not only by Wissam but also by other Remmos. And the defendants are silent.