As of: February 18, 2024, 4:58 a.m
By: Moritz Bletzinger
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Judgment before the Lübeck regional court: The chamber did not believe that the former public prosecutor had abused his son while sleepwalking.
© Marcus Brandt/picture alliance/dpa
A former prosecutor said he was sleeping when he abused his son.
The Lübeck regional court doesn't believe him, but still remains on probation.
Lübeck – “He reached into the boy’s pajama pants, touched his genitals and also the boy’s anus,” says the indictment against a former public prosecutor.
His objection: “Sexsomnia”.
He was sleepwalking and couldn't remember abusing his son.
Father allegedly abuses son in his sleep: Lübeck regional court convicts him of rape
The father of three had put the sleepwalking excuse on record during the investigation, but he did not comment in the trial. The criminal chamber did not believe the admission: The court sentenced the 52-year-old to one year and six months for rape and serious abuse Probation.
For comparison: A man from Indersdorf received a prison sentence of three years and ten months for abusing his son.
The prosecution and defense had pleaded for acquittal.
However, there was never any question that the sexual acts took place.
The man turned himself in after his wife confronted him with the allegations.
She also filed for divorce.
Before the Lübeck regional court it was much more about the circumstances of the crime.
If the sleepwalking objection had stood, the former prosecutor could have been deemed “not guilty.”
But the chamber didn't go that far.
“Gave him back a sense of power”: Court in Lübeck doesn’t believe ex-public prosecutor’s sleepwalking excuse
“We assume that the act should be understood as a dysfunctional coping strategy,” said judge Helga von Lukowicz when giving reasons for the verdict on Wednesday (February 14).
The spontaneous act occurred in a particularly stressful situation; the public prosecutor was under professional pressure and his marriage was over.
“The violent abuse of his son gave him back his sense of power for a moment,” said the judge.
A former partner of the convicted man testified in the trial that sexual acts occurred in his deep sleep during their relationship.
In principle, it is entirely possible that people do things while sleepwalking that they would not do when awake, says Thomas Pollmächer, director of the sleep medicine center at the Ingolstadt Clinic, to the news agency
dpa
.
Common motor activities in sleepwalking include everyday actions such as walking around or moving furniture.
(moe/dpa)