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"Power surge" process in Munich. "As if someone had turned off the light"

2019-11-21T21:46:58.032Z


A 30-year-old pretended to be a physician and persuaded dozens of women to commit life-threatening electric shocks. He cut the experiments. Now the videos will be shown in the courtroom.



She tends to laugh at unpleasant things, the witness said to the judge. Now she does not laugh anymore. The young woman is shocked. The video sees her for the first time on this day in room 266 of the Landgericht München. The 30-year-old watches as her body rears up after her husband chases her 230 volts through the brain.

He held her two metal spoons attached to a power cord to her temples. So it wanted the man, with whom they communicated via Skype. They took him for a doctor from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. He called himself Raik Haarmann. He had promised them about 2,000 euros to participate in a current study.

"We just needed the money," says Janine H. on Thursday in court. Ten months earlier, her son had been born. Her husband was unemployed, money short. The witness had been looking for a job through a classified ad. David G. had written to her. His name was not Raik Haarmann, he was not a physician. The couple was deceived by G. Like many others too.

The deaths of the people accepted

David G. is charged with 88 cases of attempted murder. He tried to persuade 79 women and girls to get electrocuted. Some have just pretended.

But most of them followed his instructions, some of them several times. His experiments were recorded by G. The videos are now important evidence. In some cases, mothers, fathers, and life partners assisted in life-threatening experiments. They all thought they did it for science. David G. pretended to be a researcher. In fact, according to the prosecution, he is said to have gone for his own sexual arousal. He should have accepted the death of the people.

Sven Hoppe / dpa

The defendant at the trial in Munich: "It could have also led to death"

The defendant is said to have Asperger syndrome, a form of autism. To what extent this could have played a role in his actions, should clarify an opinion.

Tied to a garden lounger with cable ties

Because David G., the alleged physician, wanted it that way, her husband Janine H. tied her at her apartment near Osnabrück with cable ties on her arms and legs on a garden lounger. This is how the video shows it. In front of the couch is her laptop. The camera is running. David G. sits near Würzburg in front of his computer and watches via Skype. For the couple, he remains invisible. Camera and microphone of his computer are broken, he explained to the victims. He can see and hear his victims. Janine H. and her husband see him in court for the first time. He gave his instructions in writing in August 2017.

David G. has recorded her video chat. What the defendant saw then, the witness, the judges, the prosecutor, the defense attorneys, the sub-plaintiff representative and the experts in the hall will also see on this day.

"My husband should serve as a tool"

The judge asks the witness what her husband was supposed to do then. She says, "My husband was to serve as a tool and administer the current to me." She asked David G. if it would hurt and how many volts came out of the socket. "He wrote that people respond differently, and that it's more of a scare, because of muscle cramping."

The judge asks for the moment of the electric shock. "I shrieked animal, then I was black in the eye, as if someone had turned off the light." She suffered burns. First the skin was reddened at her temples, later a crust had formed.

In court, the instructions given by David G. alias Raik Haarmann to the witness are read out: Her husband should give her several electric shocks. Only for a second. Then two. Then three. Then four.

In the video you can see how the man of Janine H. gives her the first electric shock. The body of the young woman rears up. David G. immediately sends a chat message. "How did you feel?" Then, "Would you make a two-second attempt?"

"My husband is just saying he can not do it," says Janine H. into the camera. She breathes heavily, closing her eyes in between. "My husband says he will not shock me again." David G. tries to persuade her. He does not succeed in this case.

"Not even a second"

Then the husband enters the courtroom. He is 32 years old, is undergoing training as a geriatric nurse. He is spared the video, he does not have to watch as he torments his wife on behalf of David G. But his defender does not spare the witness.

The court may inform the husband under article 55 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, advocates lawyer Klaus W. Spiegel, who represents the defendant. It states that a witness will not answer questions if he runs the risk of exposing himself to prosecution. Spiegel may be thinking of aiding and abetting the attempted murder. The prosecutor speaks up, speaks to the witness, tries to reassure him: "From our point of view, you did not do any harm." In our view, even criminally relevant behavior is not apparent. " The witness acts as if he does not understand what is happening.

"It could have killed too"

Then he should report what he did that evening. "You should assist?" Asks the judge. Yes, says the witness. How long did he give his wife the electric shock? "Not even a second," he says, "because I was worried about my wife." Her rearing had scared him. For a moment she has lost consciousness. He is visibly close today. "Did you consider the electric shock potentially life-threatening?" Asks the judge. "No," says the man.

"When you put the spoons on your wife's temples, did you worry about hurting another person?" Defends Spiegel. The witness is silent for a moment. Then he says, "Not at the moment."

What a surge from temple to temple can do, had previously declared a forensic doctor. Depending on which brain region is affected, it could lead to epileptic seizures, unconsciousness, even to respiratory arrest. She says, "Flowing from temple to temple is a very life-threatening situation that could have led to death."

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2019-11-21

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