Enlarge image
The accused former pastor with his lawyer (left) in the Saarbrücken district court
Photo: Becker Bredel / dpa
A retired pastor from the Diocese of Trier has had to answer for sexual assault since Monday.
He is said to have urged a 14-year-old acolyte to tolerate sexual acts on himself.
At the start of the trial before the Saarbrücken district court, the 69-year-old rejected the accusation “emphatically”.
"The alleged crime of coercion did not take place, and I am confident that the trial will prove it," he said.
He declined to give any personal information in court.
According to the indictment, the man is said to have invited the 14-year-old to spend the night in the vicarage in Freisen, Saarland, in 1997.
There he is said to have given him several glasses of wine to drink in the evening.
He later forcibly pushed him onto a bed, touched him sexually and ignored his requests to stop.
Eventually, the boy managed to break free and flee.
On his escape from the accused, he locked himself in the bathroom and called for help through an open window.
The main prosecution witness, who is said to have also become a pastor, is to be heard on Tuesday.
At the request of his co-plaintiff, his questioning is closed to the public.
The procedure goes back to a criminal complaint by the Diocese of Trier after the injured party had given information to the archbishop's official office in Cologne.
So far, seven more days of trial have been scheduled, so a verdict could fall on March 13th.
Before the trial, members of the Missbit association (»victims of abuse in the Diocese of Trier«) protested in front of the building in the morning.
Among them was a 39-year-old who, according to his own statements, was also a victim of sexual abuse by the accused in 1999 at the age of 15.
He reportedly filed a complaint in 2006, but the accusation was time-barred because no physical violence had been used.
The man belongs to a group of several people who are expected to testify on Thursday and Friday.
The defendant's defense attorney requested that the public be excluded from this because the interrogations could provide insights into his client's sexual sphere.
The co-plaintiff refused because only witnesses had the right to file an application.
The court plans to announce its decision on Tuesday.
(Az: 3 KLs 16 Js 143/21 (11/22)
82-year-old minister admits to sexual assault
Meanwhile, a pastor emeritus caused a scandal at the Sunday service in Rhede, North Rhine-Westphalia: In a personal statement, he reported that a young man had been attacked around 30 years ago.
The 82-year-old, who was active in church services, baptisms or funerals in the parish of St. Gudula, explained to the community that in the late 1980s he "approached a young adult in a way that violated boundaries," as the parish announced.
That is why he offered Bishop Felix Genn of Münster his withdrawal from all duties.
The WDR had previously reported.
The broadcaster quoted those affected at the time as saying: "But I couldn't defend myself at the time or tell him to take his fingers away."
The diocese announced on Monday that Bishop Genn had retired the pastor in accordance with his wishes.
But: The clergyman may continue to work in consultation with the leading pastor if he is expressly requested by parishioners.
ala/dpa