The video is hard to bear. A 22-year-old hesitates, she is afraid to look, she closes her eyes. Then she holds two spoons to her temples and cables are attached to the spoons. The video image stops. The fuse was blown out, the internet connection was interrupted. David G., who records the video, sees only a still image for the moment. But he does not have enough.
The 30-year-old IT specialist is charged with attempted murder in 88 cases. He is said to have scolded dozens of girls and women under false pretenses to inflict electric shock. He watched them via Skype. The then 22-year-old student from Gießen still suffers from the consequences.
The young woman participates as a plaintiff in the process before the district court of Munich II. On this day she testifies as a witness, the court lets play the video of the supposed scientific study.
Shortly after she has put the fuse back in, the young woman logs back in the video chat. "I got an electric shock," she says into the camera of her laptop. There was a short circuit. David G. answers in writing. "How did that feel to you?" "I'm a bit shaky, there's a tingling in my body," she says, visibly in shock.
David G. asks her to repeat the experiment. He writes: "Moisten your temples for something." "Moisten?", The woman asks. Her eyes are full of fear. She takes a deep breath. "That costs a lot of overcoming," she says. The student hesitates. Then she holds the spoons again in her hand. She closes her eyes, breathes loudly.
In the courtroom, David G. sits in the dock. He looks down.
In the video, the young woman just sends her address, "just for safety", in case she is lying dead in her apartment afterwards. Then she closes her eyes again, raises the spoons. Suddenly she says, "I think I'm doing it on my feet." Shortly thereafter, David G. breaks off the Skype connection.
"Already frightening what I was ready for and how naive I was there," says the witness in court. She had been looking for a job via an internet ad in June 2017. She got a message from David G. "He said he was a doctor." Whether she is interested in a study. She joined in because she needed money.
Then she describes the moment of the electric shock. "I collapsed, blackened my eyes, it felt like my brain was burning."
Nobody believed her in psychiatry
She also says she suffers from a mental illness since she was young. The disease occurs in spurts. Four months after the electric shock she had another psychotic episode. She was treated in a clinic.
The judge asks if she told her what happened in the clinic. The witness laughs. Yes, she tried. "But if you say in psychiatry that a doctor has asked you to be electrocuted, then nobody will believe you."
The prosecutor asks how she is doing today. "With every panic attack, I feel that electrical pain again," she says. It puts a great strain on her.
She reports that the parents of David G. wrote her a letter. "That was too much for me." She just flew over it. She noted that the parents wrote that her son has Asperger's Syndrome. As an excuse, she does not let that apply. "I had to laugh about it." In her circle of acquaintances there are also people who suffer from this form of autism. Therefore, she knew: "Even Asperger autistics have a sense of what is right or wrong."
David G. wants to personally apologize to her in court. But she does not want that. "I do not want to listen to this."
He promised 3000 euros
Previously, another person had testified that day. Nathalie P., 27, lives in Berlin and holds a doctorate in biology. In November 2015, she also was looking for a job via an internet ad. David G. pretended to be an employee of the Charité. Around 3000 euros he presented in prospect. His instructions also obeyed her.
David G. also recorded the electric shocks in this case. The video shows the witness handling a nail on a power outlet and a metal spoon on her bare foot. Then a scream is heard.
The shock is written on her face. "And that is not harmful to your health?" She asks in the video. The answer: "Do not worry, that does not affect you." David G. asks if she has a problem repeating the attempt on her temples. "Yes, definitely," she writes. A little later, David G. breaks off the Skype connection.
"Yes," she says in court, laughing, "I got a pretty strong electric shock, it hurt really bad." She had the feeling, her whole body was tearing up. "I could not breathe anymore."
Afterwards, she also realized that she had hunted 220 volts through the body. "You realize that this was a really stupid idea." She laughs. "Of course I did not tell anyone."
She accepts the apology
What she had imagined, what happened during the power tests, asks the judge. "I knew electricity was dangerous," she says, "that children should not put their fingers in the socket, but I did not realize what could happen."
She accepts the apology of David G. "I just wanted to say that was a moral mistake and bad," he tells her. "I really want to apologize to you." The judge had told the witness that she did not have to respond to the words if she did not want to. But Nathalie P. says, "I think it's strong that the apology is coming."