Münster's mayor is dismayed by an abuse case in an allotment garden in his city. His administration had been in contact with a victim family years ago.
Münster (dpa) - Münster Mayor Markus Lewe has dismayed the abuse case that has come to light in his city. "I am terrified that our city was apparently the scene of such terrible acts," said the CDU politician.
"Our attention and thoughts are with the children, who are now in safe facilities and receive extensive professional help there." The case shows frighteningly that the sexual abuse of children and the brutality of the perpetrators are much larger than was generally known a few years ago.
The youth welfare office of the city of Münster had contact with the family of one of the victims of the abuse case in North Rhine-Westphalia. The family was known to the authorities from 2015 to 2016, "because the social child father was noticed because of the possession and distribution of pornographic data," the city said on Saturday. During this time, the youth welfare office had had contact with the family. In 2015, the family court saw no reason to take the child out of parental responsibility. Mayor Lewe said: "We can only make an assessment if the facts are sufficiently clarified."
At the weekend, the crime scene in the allotment area in the north of Münster was guarded by police officers. Allotment gardeners and visitors to the well-tended grounds were horrified, but did not want to comment on the alleged events on the plot sealed by the police. In the gazebo, four men are said to have raped two boys alternately for hours. The 27-year-old main suspect is said to have given the men the ten-year-old son to his partner. The second victim was reportedly the son (5) of an accused from Staufenberg (Hesse).
The main suspect offered pictures and videos of the crimes in the Darknet. The case became known on Friday after suspects were arrested in several states. Investigators have now secured over 500 terabytes of adeptly encrypted material. After evaluating the first data, the police and public prosecutors believe that only a small proportion of the alleged crimes have been reported. Of the eleven arrested, seven are in custody.