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District Court Münster: Defendant in the courtroom
Photo: Guido Kirchner / dpa
Another trial has come to an end in the abuse complex in Münster: A 45-year-old from Berlin was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for three times serious sexual abuse of a child.
In addition, the Münster district court saw it as proven that the man owned child pornography in three cases, a spokesman said.
In order to mitigate the sentence, the judges judged that the defendant had made a confession and thus spared the victim a testimony.
The prosecutor had spoken out in favor of a prison sentence of six years and nine months.
The defense lawyer pleaded for his client with no criminal record for a sentence of no more than five years.
The trial in connection with the abuse complex in Münster took place largely in camera to protect the victims.
Swift process
The victim is said to be an eleven-year-old boy from Münster who, according to investigators, had repeatedly been the victim of serious sexual abuse in the Münster abuse complex.
According to the indictment, the crime scenes in this case were in Hanover in June 2019 and in Münster in August and December 2019.
The boy's stepfather was present at each of the abuse.
The proceedings against the now convicted 45-year-old passed more quickly than initially thought.
The regional court had set five further appointments in this secondary proceeding until May 7th.
After the man's confession, these trial days were no longer necessary.
Alongside Lügde and Bergisch Gladbach, Münster is one of three large crime complexes in North Rhine-Westphalia that have been uncovered since 2019.
It is about sexual violence against a large number of children and about large networks with numerous participants and victims.
There are over 40 suspects in the complex, around 30 of whom are in custody.
About 30 children are said to have been victims.
In the main trial against the 27-year-old stepfather of the eleven-year-old boy, his mother and other men, a verdict is expected in the spring.
After the processes in the abuse complex that have ended so far, only one decision is legally binding.
A man from Norderstedt in Schleswig-Holstein was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.
In the case of further decisions, the convicts or the public prosecutor's office appealed.
In the case of a student from Aachen sentenced to nine years in prison, the Federal Court of Justice must now clarify whether subsequent preventive detention will be ordered, as requested by the prosecution.
Fok / dpa
