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The defendant before the Arnsberg district court: classic love madness
Photo: Guido Kirchner / dpa
For around 20 years, a woman has been stalking a pastor from Sauerland.
But the 79-year-old has now been acquitted in court – because she is considered innocent in love.
The Arnsberg district court overturned a nine-month suspended sentence against the senior citizen, which the Meschede district court had imposed in 2019.
At the time, the judges had held the elderly woman responsible.
As the 67-year-old Catholic priest described on the witness stand, the accused had met him more than 20 years ago in the small town of Meschede-Freienohl and from then on stalked and harassed him.
At times she called him daily, gave obscene gifts, decorated his car with love messages, or danced naked in front of the vicarage.
Again and again she has decorated his garden with phallic symbols, such as carrots with attached balloons.
To this day, she lurks for him regularly.
Multiple criminal charges and lawsuits
The years of terror have significantly affected his quality of life and have long since caused health problems, said the priest.
For years he has tried in vain to stop his stalker with a large number of criminal charges and lawsuits.
According to the psychiatric expert, the woman suffers from a "classic love mania" that does not allow her to control her behavior.
The psychiatrist Norbert Leygraf from the University of Münster explained that she was convinced that she had found her "soul twin", who, as a Catholic priest, just couldn't show his affection for her.
In addition, brain damage affects their impulse control.
The chamber deeply regrets the pastor's situation, said the presiding judge in his verdict.
The facts of the reenactment have been fulfilled.
"But if you don't act responsibly, you can't be punished for it." However, the high hurdles for placement in a psychiatric ward have not been met - also because the woman's delusion relates exclusively to the pastor.
The acquittal is not yet final.
ptz/dpa