Young girls are surrounded, threatened and touched in Regensburg Westbad - mother demands consequences

Created: 08/13/2022, 08:59

By: Stefan Aigner

Popular leisure and family pool in Regensburg: the Westbad.

© Stadtwerk Regensburg

After a teenager sexually assaulted two girls in the Regensburg Westbad, the mother of one of the children saw a need for action.

Regensburg – How often does sexual harassment or even assaults occur in Regensburg swimming pools?

Martin Gottschalk, spokesman for the municipal operating company Stadtwerk, says that "incidents of this kind that are reported to us (...) are very rare".

But the mother of an affected girl disagrees.

She calls for more information about contact persons in the bathroom in order to make it easier for those affected, especially children, to report abuse.

Teenager molests girl: "I'll put my dick in your mouth."

That's what happened: At the end of July, Stephanie, eleven years old, and Mareike, twelve years old, were swimming alone in Regensburg's Westbad (names changed).

Without her parents, as has often been the case in the past.

There they were initially involved in a rather friendly conversation by a much older youth who was accompanied by two girls of about the same age.

But suddenly the teenager became more stubborn and finally said: "I'll put my dick in your mouth." The eleven-year-old Stephanie was then "touched immorally" by him in the indoor heated pool under water.

His two companions were downright threatening towards the two children, according to an email that Mareike's father wrote to the municipal utility three days later.

After the attack: Children fled from the bathroom in fear

Disturbed and frightened and somewhat in shock, the two girls quickly fled the bathroom.

They didn't want to turn to the lifeguard out of shame.

The following weekend, Mareike revealed herself to her parents.

"She was still pretty confused and couldn't put it at all at first," reports her mother.

The municipal utility responded quickly to the email from Mareike's father.

The information is forwarded to “our specialists” “in order to continue to monitor this,” it says.

"In such a case, the children should always contact our staff, whether in supervision or at the information desk." Female staff are "usually" always on site and: the supervisors are instructed, if bathers are disturbed, young girls, in particular, “to intervene strictly as a matter of principle”.

Stadtwerk spokesman Gottschalk responded similarly to a corresponding request from our editorial team.

After sexual assault: mother demands more clues for help

That's not enough for Mareike's mother.

The fundamental problem was that the girls initially had no idea who they could turn to.

At that moment they were afraid of the lifeguard, a man.

She advocates appropriate notices in the pools - clearly visible and conspicuous, also to sensitize other bathers to the problem.

The municipal utility speaks of very few cases, but according to the mother: “The topic is extremely shameful – even with adult women.

Who knows how many kids are like my daughter and her friend.”

Mareike will probably still dare to go to the Westbad alone in the future.

For her younger friend Stephanie, who was also physically assaulted, it's over for now.

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