As of: February 19, 2024, 3:19 p.m
By: Katarina Amtmann
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The defendant (2nd from left) stands in the courtroom at the Schweinfurt regional court at the start of the trial.
The man is said to have tried to exorcise alleged demons from a woman near Schweinfurt with brutal abuse and rape.
© Heiko Becker/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++
The “guru” of a group is accused of choking and abusing a woman.
The trial has now begun at the Schweinfurt regional court.
Schweinfurt - Sleep deprivation, all-night parties under the influence of drugs, sex with several people: the reports about life in a shared apartment in Lower Franconia are also suitable for a film.
However, the group's supposed "guru" is accused of acting against a woman's will.
Violence against demons?
Trial about power and alleged abuse in the Schweinfurt shared apartment
It's about punishments, demons, light beings, psychological pressure, drug use and much more.
In a shared apartment near Schweinfurt it seems to have been about power, violence and sex for years - that became clear on Monday, February 19th, at the start of a trial for rape and grievous bodily harm.
The defendant was a “spiritual leader” of the community, said public prosecutor Melanie Roth before the Schweinfurt regional court.
In this role, the 42-year-old is said to have brutally raped and abused his former partner in May last year.
“The injured party suffered multiple bruises, hematomas and swellings on her body as a result of the defendant's punches, kicks and choking.” According to the prosecution, the 30-year-old was strangled three times in the common areas until she lost consciousness - all in order to drive out alleged demons from her.
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Drugs and corporal punishment in a Franconian shared apartment - man is on trial
According to investigations, drugs such as cocaine and LSD played an important role in the group to rid members of “parasites” or to detect alleged wrongdoing.
“The defendant's methods also include corporal punishment and - as far as women are concerned in particular - the performance or toleration of sexual acts with and by the defendant,” said Roth.
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At the start of the trial, many of the defendant's supporters tried to get into the courtroom, but there was no room for most of them.
The sect representatives from the Catholic and Protestant churches were also there.
Witness about victim: “The nose was bloody, the mouth was bloody”
The defendant, dressed in a white shirt, black suit and berry-colored tie, did not comment at the start of the trial.
His defense attorneys made several requests, including calling witnesses who would portray the alleged victim as a two-faced person.
The woman is manipulative and has extreme sexual violent fantasies.
“She wanted to break the defendant,” said lawyer Helmut Mörtl, one of the 42-year-old’s four lawyers.
A witness who was with the woman who was allegedly abused on the day of the crime reported to the court that the woman looked very bad.
“She had a swollen face.
The nose was bloody, the mouth was bloody.” She had already had the impression that the student was dependent on the defendant.
“He probably beat her and tried to cast out her demons.”
According to their own information, one to two dozen people live in the shared apartment.
Her goal is to support people on their healing and growth journey.
What exactly is meant by this remains unclear.
Cult also known to police - trial continues on Tuesday
Matthias Pöhlmann, the cult representative of the Protestant regional church, who visited the shared apartment a few years ago and spoke to former members several times, describes the group as a social-utopian community.
Authoritarian leadership style, group pressure, loss of privacy, hour-long tribunals in which individuals have to justify themselves - former people had reported this to him, he told the German Press Agency.
The club is also well known to the police.
Witnesses reported in previous investigations that a certain level of psychological pressure was exerted on community members to achieve certain behaviors.
“However, such influences are not relevant under criminal law,” the authority announced at the end of 2021
.The trial continues on Tuesday.
(came/dpa)
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