Wuppertal abuse complex: Ten years in prison demanded

Created: 06/20/2022, 18:03

A depiction of the goddess Justitia.

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A 22-year-old student and a 45-year-old man have been on trial in Wuppertal since March for serious child sexual abuse.

Their youngest victims are said to have been five months and one year old.

The taking of evidence has now ended.

Wuppertal - In the Wuppertal abuse trial, the public prosecutor's office demanded ten years in prison for the 45-year-old accused.

According to the prosecutors, a student who is said to have sexually abused a five-month-old baby should be behind bars for six and a half years and then in a psychiatric ward.

The process before the Wuppertal district court is thus coming to an end.

He started in March.

The proceedings concern a large number of acts of sexual violence against children.

The defenders pleaded for lighter penalties.

Both defendants are accused of multiple abuse, especially of very small children.

They are also said to have exchanged so-called child pornography on a large scale.

The verdict will be pronounced on Wednesday, according to the court.

The youngest victim of the 45-year-old is said to have been one year old, the youngest victim of the student five months old.

Suspicious chat messages in a German online portal first brought the operators and then the investigators into action.

The complex triggered investigations into more than 100 other suspects nationwide who are said to have formed a child pornography exchange ring.

The 22-year-old accused is said to have filmed his abusive acts, photographed them and exchanged the recordings with others.

During searches, the investigators came across several terabytes of suspicious material.

The evaluation finally led to the identification of the affected children.

dpa