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CRIME

Councillor calls for calm as villagers picket rapist’s house

Officials from a village near Aachen has appealed for calm after furious neighbours spent every evening last week demonstrating outside the house of a man who spent 20 years in prison for raping three young girls.

Published: 10 March 2009 13:04 CET
Councillor calls for calm as villagers picket rapist's house
Photo:DPA

The 57-year-old man, named only as Karl D., was released into the care of his brother who lives in Heinsberg, despite warnings from the Munich state prosecutor that he was a danger to society and likely to offend again.

A district councillor Hendrik Pusch then warned the residents of the Randerath district of their new neighbour, prompting daily demonstrations, described by some as a potential lynch mob.

Pictures of the man have been posted around the area, while demonstrators’ placards have included phrases such as “Out with the child abuser” and “You’re safe for now. We know what you look like.”

At the weekend members of the neo Nazi NPD party showed up in the area and took part in the evening demonstration – a very unwelcome development, village official Heinz Franken told The Local on Tuesday.

“I am appealing to people to remain calm, to let peace return to our area and to allow the justice system to do its job,” he said.

“There is no danger from this man, he is being watched around the clock by policemen. There is no way he can go out and do anything. He has the right to return here and the justice system will decide whether he can stay; that is their job.”

He said the NPD were not welcome, adding that he did not expect them to return. “The situation has calmed down somewhat,” he said.

Karl D. was jailed in 1994 for torturing and raping two girls. Ten years previously he had abused and raped a 17-year-old. He gave an interview to Spiegel TV where he said, “No-one has reason to be scared of me.” He said he was not a time bomb and added that he was constantly monitored.

But he acknowledged that he could probably not stay much longer with his brother in Heinsberg. “I don’t believe I can stay here with my brother,” he said. “It’s impossible. It is terrible for my brother, he is at the end of his tether.”

However, he cannot simply move – the authorities would have to approve any change of residency. There are also two court cases still running concerning Karl D., which could result in him being returned to prison.

CRIME

Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

A 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country's leaders decried as a threat to democracy.

Published: 5 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement.

Matthias Ecke, 41, European parliament lawmaker for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was set upon by four attackers as he put up EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to police.

Ecke was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said.

Scholz on Saturday condemned the attack as a threat to democracy.

“We must never accept such acts of violence,” he said.

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s European election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police said a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had been “punched” and “kicked” earlier in the evening on the same Dresden street.

Last week two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and another was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators in her car in the east of the country.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

A group of activists against the far right has called for demonstrations against the attack on Ecke in Dresden and Berlin on Sunday, Der Spiegel magazine said.

According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is planning to call a special conference with Germany’s regional interior ministers next week to address violence against politicians.

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