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CRIME

Manhunt underway over alleged ‘heinous and brutal’ rape of schoolgirls

Police have not yet been able to find an 18-year-old man suspected of involvement in the rape of several schoolgirls in the Ruhr region.

Published: 15 February 2018 14:48 CET
Manhunt underway over alleged 'heinous and brutal' rape of schoolgirls
Photo: DPA

While there are several clues as to the suspect’s whereabouts, a police spokesperson in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, said on Thursday, a “decisive lead” is still lacking.

Over the past few months, six young males between the ages of 16 and 23 are suspected to have been involved in at least six cases of alleged rape involving several adolescent girls, according to investigators.

But after the arrest of four of the men, and with investigations underway regarding the underage 16-year-old suspect, the public prosecutor’s office and police on Wednesday reported that the last remaining suspect – an 18-year-old male from Gelsenkirchen – had disappeared.

The suspects allegedly made initial contact with the young girls via social media and acquaintances. Then they lured them into remote areas and pressured them into performing sexual acts on them, according to a police report.

“These are particularly heinous and brutal acts,” said police spokesman in Essen, Lars Lindemann.

The acts took place in Essen and Gelsenkirchen, reported Focus Online, adding that the perpetrators afterward ridiculed their victims and bragged about their deeds online.

Investigators believe the young men are responsible for further sexual offences.

Only three victims – all 16-year-old girls – have filed complaints with investigators thus far. But police believe that there are more victims and have urged others to come forward.


The 18-year-old suspect. Photo: Polizei Essen

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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