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Photo: © Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters / REUTERS
A 45-year-old is currently facing suspected sexual abuse before the Ulm Regional Court.
He is suspected of having sexually abused his half-sister and her friends in a total of 400 cases over the years.
According to prosecutors, the man allegedly repeatedly sexually abused his half-sister and four other girls between 1996 and 2005.
The alleged acts are said to have occurred in several apartments in Ulm that the accused lived in during this period.
At the start of the trial on Monday, the defendant admitted part of the allegations.
The accused stated that his half-sister and four friends of the girl had repeatedly stayed in his apartment in Ulm and were wholly or partially undressed.
According to him, he also gave the girls alcohol to drink and touched them while they were naked.
According to this, some of the girls lived in the man's neighborhood.
Two of them were daughters of a work colleague, as the defendant described in court.
Defendant asserts gaps in memory
When asked about specific allegations, the defendant evaded several times and said that he could no longer remember.
"First and foremost, I'm sorry," said the man.
It was "stupid" of him.
He claims to have changed a lot in his life in the meantime.
The prosecution speaks of more than 400 cases of child sexual abuse - including 20 serious cases.
In these, the accused is said to have touched the girls in the genital area.
However, the defendant denied this.
The girls were between 6 and 13 years old at the time of the alleged crimes, and the man was 20 to 29 years old.
As for the motive for his actions, the defendant said that he used to be interested in little girls and liked to look at them.
He had little chance with adult women.
However, he denied in court that he still has such an inclination today.
Biased lay judge
His defense attorney presented two documents to the judges, according to which the defendant sought help from a psychotherapist and family help between 2019 and 2020.
The defendant also stated that since this year he has been married to a 33-year-old who has brought an eight-year-old daughter into the marriage.
His wife knew about the charges, he said.
The procedure began for the first time at the end of June.
Because of the possible bias of a lay judge, it was initially suspended.
The lay judge had announced right from the start that she was "good friends" with the parents of one of the alleged victims and that she also knew the mother of the accused.
Four of the five alleged victims are joint plaintiffs in the proceedings.
Five days of negotiations are planned until mid-September.
ala / dpa