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CRIME

Raped and forced to sleep with 17 men a day: kidnapping trial starts

On Wednesday the trial started of a man who allegedly lured a woman into his car before holding her captive for weeks and forcing her into prostitution. But a big question mark surrounds whether he will be convicted.

Raped and forced to sleep with 17 men a day: kidnapping trial starts
The accused in court on Wednesday. Photo: DPA.

According to prosecutors, the woman got to know her attacker over Facebook. She was living in Paderborn at the time. He was living in Mönchengladbach, a town two and a half hours to the southwest, near the Dutch border.

She wanted to return home to Bulgaria. Also Bulgarian, the man reportedly offered to give her a ride.

But the trip turned into a living nightmare, according to the prosecution’s statement, read at the start of the trial in Mönchengladbach.

The 34-year-old reportedly picked the woman up from her apartment in Paderborn in September 2016 and drove her to Mönchengladbach. Saying that they should stop for a coffee, he persuaded her to come into his house, according to prosecutors.

It was at this point that the series of horrific crimes allegedly started.

Once they were inside the apartment, he pulled her by the hair and began to rape her, the prosecutors said. When she tried to defend herself, he beat her unconscious. He then tied her to a chair and left her for two days and nights.

He then allegedly began to sell her for sex. She was instructed to always be nice to the clients – on average 17 of whom came every day, prosecutors report.

At the end of her day’s work, he came and picked her up before once again forcing her to have sex with him.

“She no longer dared to resist him,” said the prosecutor.

On one occasion, while her captor wasn’t present, the woman reportedly was able to call her brother who told her to run away. Her first attempt failed.

But in the second try, she was able to come by some money and rode in a taxi to Paderborn and then Dortmund. From there, she hoped to travel home with a bus ticket her grandmother had bought her.

But at Dortmund bus station she saw men who were associates of her captor and went in fear to the police.

As an interpreter translated the charge in court, the accused repeatedly grinned. His lawyer said that he denied the charges and that he would make a statement later in the trial.

The defence lawyer also said that his client had a question for his alleged victim: “Why had she done this to him?” he wanted to know.

But the case is complicated by the fact that the woman, who is the prosecution’s lead witness, has told the court that she does not want to come to Germany to give a statement. The court is considering whether she can give her account via video link.

Judge Ralf Gerads made clear at the start of the trial on Wednesday how complicated proceedings would be without a lead witness. Other prostitutes who the woman named as witnesses have not yet been found.

Investigations will continue as the trial progresses.

BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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