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Vanessa Münstermann speaks about femicides: "He will execute me someday"

2021-03-08T14:40:42.830Z


She survived her ex-boyfriend's attempted murder. He poured acid on her face and was subsequently sentenced to a long prison term. Vanessa Münstermann still does not feel safe.


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Vanessa Münstermann, survivor


"I'm Vanessa Münstermann, I am a survivor of an acid attack by my ex-boyfriend."

This is what Vanessa Münstermann used to look like.

The trained beautician has always attached great importance to her appearance.

It's been five years since her ex-boyfriend tried to kill her.

Daniel F. attacked her on a February morning when the then 27-year-old was walking her dog.

Vanessa Münstermann, survivor


»This was the corner, he really came out of the bushes like that, he didn't jump or run now.

And all I heard was: "Vanessa, Vanessa!" And then from the garbage can I only heard: I'm going to jail anyway and then the acid would come.

From the trash can life was different. "

Vanessa Münstermann suffers third degree burns.

Added by a pipe cleaner that is used in the commercial sector and consists of 96% sulfuric acid.

A photo - taken a few days after the attack - shows how much her face is disfigured.

Vanessa Münstermann is then operated on more than 30 times.

Vanessa Münstermann, survivor

»It is the eye that is completely gone.

There is now a prosthesis in there.

I paint my eyebrow.

It's such a tattoo pen.

That means I only have one eyebrow.

I'm just ›Two Face‹, half the face, that's gone.

The ear is gone.

One nostril.

I have to set it up at night with a tube, with an orthosis, otherwise I can't breathe.

Then it's the cleavage, the hands. "


There are also scars on the legs.

There, the doctors removed skin from her to be transplanted into her face.

In addition, psychological scars remain.

In 2019, 301 women were victims of attempted murder or manslaughter in Germany.

117 of them died.

In the previous year, in 2018 there were 122 women, 2017 147, 2016 155. That means: In this country, on average, a man tries to kill his partner or ex-partner more than every other day.

On average, one of them succeeds every third day.

The perpetrators are mainly German nationals and come from all social classes.

A relationship act is called something like that, often belittling it, but it is about murders committed against women because they are women - femicides.

The distinction is also important because it can affect the offender's sentence in court.

For to be convicted of murder, the man must have acted for so-called low motives.

Lawyer Christina Clemm has been dealing with the problem for a long time.

Christina Clemm, lawyer and author

»At the moment, people say: Yes, jealousy or property claims can be low motives.

But it depends very much on how the person who is then killed actually behaved.

So if it's breaking out of a violent relationship, then of course you want to convict this perpetrator of murder.

But if it is the case that the relationship from the outside was actually quite good, that it was a caring, loving husband and that is only because the woman wants to make a career herself or only has a lover or whatever, then she would one would say: Then this desperation which the perpetrator displays can no longer be viewed as particularly reprehensible. "


So it also depends on how the courts assess the relationship between perpetrator and victim.

There have been calls for a long time to change this legal situation.

Christina Clemm, lawyer and author

»You could of course judge that very differently.

Of course, you can also say at the same time: Yes, it is always particularly reprehensible if I do not allow the person by my side to exercise their own rights and to have relationships with whoever they are, to make their career.

Whatever.

The Istanbul Convention, this European convention against violence against women, calls for that very clearly.

So actually it is clear that case law should take that into account.

But there is still a long way to go. "


It usually starts with domestic violence.

How many women suffer this in Germany is unknown.

More than 114,000 cases were recorded in police crime statistics in 2019.

Experts assume that the actual number is more than twice as high.

Many women do not even file a complaint.

When Vanessa Münstermann met Daniel F. on a dating portal in the summer of 2015, she had no idea what kind of man he was.

He was warm and sensitive.

He's an adopted child like her, with good parents.

Vanessa Münstermann, survivor


»In the beginning, the relationship was one of the most beautiful relationships I've ever had.

And then it crept into everyday life.

He was either very, very kind, like a child, or he was very aggressive.

He masturbated on top of me even though I was sleeping.

I had to have sex with him.

It would be normal if you're together, then you have to have sex with someone every day, that's what he demanded.

Even if I came home completely exhausted from the shift system, there had to be provision. "

Finally Daniel F. becomes physically violent, pulls his partner by the hair in an argument, kicks her.

Vanessa Münstermann separated from him at the end of 2015.

After six months of relationship.

After the breakup, Daniel F. terrorizes his ex-girlfriend and her parents over the phone.

Münstermann files a complaint.

A few days later, Daniel F. showered her with acid.

He is sentenced to twelve years in prison for deliberate, aggravated assault.

 In the judgment it says literally:

“The notification from the police that the co-plaintiff had filed a complaint (...) now completely enraged the defendant.

He was angry (...) and decided to take revenge on her.

(...) For this purpose he wanted to burn her face.

(...) In order to be able to obtain a suitable means for such an assassination attempt, at 1:18 pm he asked the Internet search service Google “How do you make hydrochloric acid”.

Shortly afterwards (...) ›Assassin wanted‹ (...) finally he entered on Google ›you can be burned by a pipe grenade‹. «

Vanessa Münstermann, survivor


»The sentence is of course very high by German standards.

But that he comes out again, and especially with the aspect that the judge and the lawyers said at the time: Yes, he will be criminal again, they know that.

It was emotionally bitter for me. "

Vanessa Münstermann processes what was done to her in psychotherapy and by giving insights into her life in social networks, often with relentless, hard-to-bear images.

Vanessa Münstermann, survivor

»Yes, everything wasn't always great.

Especially the emotional things.

Or hospitalization.

What acid looks like.

Simply as an explanation or as an explanation.

If you see someone like that, it's acid.

I sometimes feel that society doesn't want to see this and that's why it's so important that I keep my face up to a camera all the time.

Because I need to be seen.

Not for me, but for the other women who have bruises under their coats. "


Nevertheless, the 32-year-old does not want to be reduced to the role of the victim.

Vanessa Münstermann, survivor

»Of course there are also otto-normal-funny things.

So I like to poke around with myself.

I think that laughter is definitely a part of this, or very big events like pregnancy. "


Vanessa Münstermann not only survived - she started a second life.

Today she is married and has a daughter.

But she fears that her ex-boyfriend will one day take revenge.

Vanessa Münstermann, survivor


»He's coming out in seven years now.

Maybe it won't come at all at the beginning, maybe five years later.

Nobody knows.

He's going to execute me someday in whatever way.

In the end, I am the loser, no matter how we turn it around.

Unless I'm lucky and Daniel dies. "

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2021-03-08

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