After the death of a ten-year-old in a children’s home in Upper Franconia, a 26-year-old was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on Wednesday for raping the girl. The youth chamber of the Hof regional court found the defendant guilty of, among other things, rape and serious sexual abuse of children. The defendant could not be proven to have been involved in the girl’s death, as presiding judge Christopher Feulner said.
The ten-year-old was found dead in a bed at the children’s home in Wunsiedel on the morning of April 4, 2023. The defendant is said to have entered the home the night before and raped the girl in the presence of a then eleven-year-old boy from the home. The investigation concluded that the boy killed the ten-year-old during an argument that same night. He cannot be prosecuted due to his age. The defendant’s possible involvement in the girl’s death was not part of the indictment.
At the start of the trial, the 26-year-old garbage worker admitted that he had entered the home and raped the girl. At the same time, the German stated that he had never wanted the girl to die and had not asked the boy to kill her.
In doing so, he contradicted the boy’s statements to the police. When he testified in court, the now twelve-year-old repeated this accusation and said that the defendant had pressured him to kill the girl. The reason the 26-year-old allegedly told the boy was that the girl recognized them both.
From the perspective of the public prosecutor, “no objective, reliable evidence to refute the defendant’s admission” emerged in the trial. The prosecutor said in her plea that no conviction for involvement in the girl’s murder could be based on the 12-year-old’s statement, which changed repeatedly during the course of the proceedings. She called for a prison sentence of ten years.
In addition to the sexual crimes, the man was also convicted of several thefts and burglaries. The defendant also largely admitted these acts. His defense attorney had argued for a prison sentence of six years.
