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District Court of Ulm: the accused in the courtroom
Photo: Stefan Puchner / dpa
Almost four decades after the crime, a 65-year-old man confessed to the Ulm district court that he had raped and brutally beaten a young woman.
The former US soldier described in detail in court on Tuesday how he had chosen the then 29-year-old as a victim on October 23, 1985 and then raped her in a park in Göppingen.
In addition, the defendant admitted to having knocked the woman down with a branch.
The man was 28 years old at the time.
The training officer stationed in Göppingen at the time said he was standing on his balcony and saw the woman walking past.
There he developed the idea of following the woman and raping her.
The why remains unclear even after all these years.
In response to repeated questions from the presiding judge and the prosecutor, the defendant said he had no answer.
His situation at the time was characterized by alcohol, drugs, arguments with his wife and problems at work.
According to the indictment, the woman pretended to be dead
The man followed the young woman to a park on the night of October 1985 with a knife.
There he threatened her and ordered her to go with him.
When the woman resisted, he hit her in the face with his fist and raped her.
He also choked her.
The indictment also accuses him of repeatedly raping the woman.
But the 65-year-old denied this in court as well as the charge of attempted murder: he did not want to kill the woman.
The soldier initially left the victim lying after his crime.
He came back with a branch and hit the woman several times.
Almost unconscious and out of fear, she pretended to be dead, according to the indictment. The man took the woman to a nearby ditch in his car and threw her in there.
Before driving away, he covered them with branches and leaves.
Broken ribs and a ruptured eardrum
In court, the accused said he saw that the woman was still alive.
The almost entirely undressed and bloodied woman managed to drag herself to a nearby property.
She suffered numerous injuries, including broken ribs and a ruptured eardrum.
Addressed to the woman's lawyer, the accused apologized for the crime.
The victim appears as a joint plaintiff in the proceedings.
A letter of apology to the injured party was dispensed with, explained the man's defense attorney, since this was no longer considered appropriate after so many years.
The man returned to the United States as a soldier in 1986.
There, according to American court records, he was guilty of rape and kidnapping.
He spent 17 years in prisons.
The fact in Germany remained unsolved for decades.
With a DNA sample, investigators finally managed to find the man.
The accused has been in custody since his extradition from the United States.
statute of limitations
Since the offenses of rape and dangerous bodily harm are now statute-barred, the prosecution's main concern in the proceedings will be to prove the allegation of attempted murder.
Three more days of negotiations are planned until mid-November.
The victim should also have a say, with the public being excluded.
wit/dpa