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CRIME

Man found guilty of raping student in Munich university toilets

A 26-year-old man who raped a student in a restroom of Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich was sentenced to six years and nine months in a secure psychiatric unit on Friday.

Man found guilty of raping student in Munich university toilets
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Photo: DPA

Prosecutors accused Süleyman D. of forcing his way into the women’s toilet’s at the prestigious university in January, where he raped student Sabine L., the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reports.

Two days later, he returned to the toilets at the university campus on Geschwister-Scholl-Platz and tried to rape another female student. On that occasion, the woman was able to push him away after he barged into her toilet stall.

Both victims appeared as plaintiffs during the case.

Süleyman D. reportedly admitted to the crimes during police interrogation, but stayed silent during the court proceedings.

His lawyers called for him to be acquitted of the crime, based on a plea of limited culpability. They asked instead that he be given psychiatric treatment. A court medical examination came to the conclusion that Süleyman D. has severe mental illness and suffers from hallucinations.

Prosecutors called for a sentence of seven years and ten months in a psychiatric unit. They also accepted that he bore diminished responsibility for the crime due to his mental condition.

CRIME

German police swoop on gang of foreign dating scammers

German police said Wednesday they had arrested 11 suspected members of a Nigerian mafia group behind a large-scale dating scam.

German police swoop on gang of foreign dating scammers

The Black Axe gang was involved internationally in “multiple areas of criminal activity”, with a focus in Germany on romance scams and money-laundering, Bavarian police said in a statement.

The dating trick was a “modern form of marriage fraud”, police said.

“Using false identities, the fraudsters for example signalled their intention to marry and in the course of further contact repeatedly demand money under various pretexts,” police said.

The money was subsequently transferred to Black Axe in Nigeria “via financial agents”, authorities said.

In the process, the gang used a “commodity-based money laundering” scheme where products, often with a seeming “charitable purpose” were bought and delivered to Nigeria.

Some 450 cases of romance scamming had been reported in the region of Bavaria in 2023 alone, with the damages rising to 5.3 million euros ($5.7 million), police said.

The suspects, who all held Nigerian citizenship and were aged between 29 and 53, were arrested in nationwide raids on Tuesday.

Law enforcement swooped on 19 properties, including both homes and asylum shelters, police said.

The Black Axe gang had “strict hierarchical structures under leadership in Nigeria” operating different territorial units, police said.

The group had a “significant influence” on politics and public administrations, in particular in Nigeria.

Globally, the gang’s main areas of operation were “human-trafficking, fraud, money-laundering, prostitution and drug-trafficking”.

Black Axe operated under the cover of the Neo Black Movement of Africa, an ostensibly charitable organisation used as “camouflage” for the gang’s structures.

The action against Black Axe was the first of its kind in Germany, police said.

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