The accused, who fled from the Coburg district court, was caught by the police. A patrol arrested the man on Tuesday in Grub am Forst, not far from Coburg (Bavaria), without resistance, as a police spokesman said. A check of the man’s identity revealed that he was undoubtedly the person being sought. A witness saw the man in Grub am Forst and called the police.
The 47-year-old fled the Coburg district court on Monday during a break in negotiations. He was on trial on suspicion of the sexual abuse of his two daughters and was therefore in custody. According to the police, the man ran downstairs from the upper floor of the courthouse, broke open a window of a witness lounge and escaped. At the time, police said, the man was not wearing ankle cuffs or handcuffs. The police searched with a large contingent for the man.
According to the witness, a police patrol met the fugitive at a bus stop. When officers approached him, the man reportedly fled to a nearby field. The police finally arrested him there. The man had “changed his appearance a lot” and cut his hair, among other things. Only after comparing the fingerprints were the police able to identify him beyond doubt. The investigators assume that the man wanted to continue his escape by bus. It was not yet known where he was exactly when he was arrested.
It is the second case in a few weeks in which a defendant escaped from a court in Bavaria. A convicted murderer also fled in Regensburg in January through an insufficiently secured window on the ground floor of the building. Only days later, French police forces were able to apprehend him 110 kilometers north of Strasbourg.
