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District Court Berlin-Tiergarten (archive)
Photo: Taylan Gökalp / picture alliance / dpa
Around six months after the theft of 242 new tablets from a Berlin school, the trial against a 27-year-old has started on the second attempt.
The defendant was silent about the allegations before the Berlin-Tiergarten district court.
The man, who was working as a cleaner at the school at the time, is said to have stolen devices with a total value of almost 100,000 euros from a room equipped with an alarm system.
According to the prosecution, he used a master key and a transponder.
The father of three defenders said their client would not comment.
Theft a few hours after delivery
Pupils from socially disadvantaged families should get the tablets for class at home in the corona pandemic. Witnesses stated at the trial that the devices had been delivered unannounced. The school caretaker said he saw the defendant in the building that day. The 27-year-old was accompanied by another employee from the company that had been cleaning the school for several years. Students were not in the building that day.
According to the indictment, the 242 tablets were stolen on the night of January 28, 2021 - just a few hours after delivery.
The 27-year-old was arrested less than two weeks after the crime.
The tablets did not show up, it was said at the time.
The cleaning staff quickly came under suspicion because of the use of a transponder chip to switch off the alarm system.
Investigations had also shown that only a small group of people knew about the delivery.
A first attempt at the process failed at the beginning of June.
At that time, the court had only scheduled one day of the trial.
However, the then presiding judge stated that it would take more than one day to take evidence, but that he would be seconded to another court and so could not continue the process.
bbr / dpa / AFP