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>>>Ex-priest must undergo therapy because of serious abuse
February 22, 2018
Ein Priester erschleicht sich das Vertrauen von Eltern und vergeht sich jahrelang an deren Kindern. Dafür wurde er nun zu 8,5 Jahren Haft verurteilt. Zunächst muss er aber in Therapie. Selbst der Richter zweifelt an einem Erfolg.
Wegen schweren sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern hat das Landgericht Deggendorf einen ehemaligen katholischen Priester aus Bayern zu einer Freiheitsstrafe von achteinhalb Jahren verurteilt. Zuvor wird der 53-Jährige auf unbefristete Zeit in der geschlossenen Psychiatrie untergebracht, um eine Therapie zu absolvieren. Eine anschließende Sicherungsverwahrung zum Schutz der Allgemeinheit behält sich die Justiz vor. Eine Revision ist möglich.
Eine Behandlung des Mannes werde „viele, viele“ Jahre dauern, sagte der Vorsitzende Richter Thomas Trautwein bei der Urteilsverkündung. Und ein Erfolg sei zweifelhaft. Abgeurteilt wurden 108 Missbrauchstaten, die der gebürtige Wuppertaler zwischen 1997 und 2016 an fünf Jungen unter 14 Jahren im In- und Ausland begangen hat.
Der Richter sprach von einem „entsetzlichen Unheil“, das der Angeklagte durch das „Zerstören von Kinderseelen“ angerichtet habe. Für die Opfer ende die Schädigung auch mit dem Ende des Prozesses nicht, die Aufarbeitung erstrecke sich über Jahrzehnte. Der Angeklagte verfolgte die Urteilsverkündung äußerlich regungslos. Zum Schutz der Persönlichkeit des Angeklagten und der minderjährigen Opferzeugen war die Öffentlichkeit weitgehend vom Prozess ausgeschlossen worden.
[ Google Translation:
Ex-priest must undergo therapy because of serious abuse
A priest gets the confidence of parents and goes to their children for years. He was sentenced to 8.5 years imprisonment. But first he has to be in therapy. Even the judge doubts a success.
ay serious sexual abuse of children has sentenced a former Catholic priest from Bavaria to a prison sentence of eight and a half years, the District Court Deggendorf. Previously, the 53-year-old will be housed for an indefinite period in closed psychiatry to complete a therapy. A subsequent preventive detention for the protection of the general public reserves the right of the judiciary. A revision is possible.
A treatment of the man will take “many, many” years, said the presiding judge Thomas Trautwein at the verdict. And a success is doubtful. 108 acts of abuse were investigated, which the native Wuppertal committed between 1997 and 2016 to five boys under 14 years at home and abroad.
The judge spoke of a “terrible calamity” that the defendant had caused by “destroying children’s souls”. For the victims, the damage does not end with the end of the process, the processing extends over decades. The defendant pursued the verdict externally motionless. To protect the personality of the defendant and the minor victims, the public had been largely excluded from the trial.
The youth chamber positively credited the defendant for having fully admitted the deeds – albeit late and only under the impression of being one of the victims. “Obviously he sees the injustice of his actions now, perhaps for the first time in his life.” The defendant was also willing to therapy. By the confession, he finally opened up the possibility of someday yet to come back into freedom, the judge justified the decision to reserve the preventive detention.
With the confession, the defendant procured the witness discharge and above all saves the still youthful victims a retraumatisierung by a statement in court. “That’s not high enough.” The court’s conviction has seen the man sexually abused the five boys on more than 100 occasions since the mid-1990s. The deeds are said to have happened above all in the Mainz area and in the Deggendorf district.
“Dreadful conditions for the children”
Already from 2003 to 2009, the defendant sat for a judgment of the district court in Karlsruhe for sexual offenses for five and a half years in prison. In 2008 he was released from the priesthood after a canonical judgment in Freiburg. He then pretended to be a priest again.
The man was always using the method of grooming, said the judge. He had sought contact with devout, pious families, where the father figure was missing or weak and the mother was overwhelmed. There, the man had taken root, taken over the education role and allowed to sleep with the children in the room. This allowed the former priest to commit the crimes in the first place and it was virtually impossible for the victims to escape. “These were horrible conditions for the children.”
The defendant exploited the trust placed in him and his position of power – over a long period of time and with a large number of victims. “Pedophilia is not curable, you can at best work to get a grip,” the judge said. The defendant had not done so far.
“A man to protect children from”
Several times Trautwein referred to the expert’s report, according to which the events like a “red thread” through the life of the defendant. In his current condition, the accused is “a man to protect children from.”
A therapeutic success is not likely, but also not ruled out. That’s why the 53-year-old is initially indefinite in psychiatry. After successful treatment, he must then take the prison sentence. This is offset with the years in psychiatry. Otherwise, the preventive detention can be arranged.
Two of the victims who appeared as co-plaintiffs in the trial were relieved after the verdict. It was important to follow the process, to understand how the defendant ticked – and to be able to break the years of silence, said one of the young men. ]
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