New reports were presented on Wednesday in the trial of former Reemtsma kidnapper Thomas Drach. According to the movement report of a biomechanist, Drach is considered to be the perpetrator of a robbery he is accused of robbing a valuables transporter in Frankfurt am Main with “overwhelming” to “probability bordering on certainty”. In the two other robberies he examined on security transporters in front of Ikea stores in Cologne in March 2018 and Frankfurt am Main in November 2019, the scientist rated Drach’s likelihood of being the perpetrator as “predominantly” to “predominantly”.
Drach’s Dutch co-accused was “predominantly” the getaway driver in the robbery at Cologne/Bonn Airport. The biomechanist had compared certain movement characteristics of the perpetrators on the surveillance videos with surveillance videos of the accused made by the police.
In a second report, a forensic anthropologist provided information based on body proportions. When comparing screenshots from surveillance videos and observation videos, she came to the conclusion that there was only a simple probability that Drach was the perpetrator of the three robberies. Drach’s co-defendant, on the other hand, was “very likely” an accomplice in the robbery at Cologne/Bonn Airport. The questioning of the experts by the litigants was postponed to a coming day of the hearing.
As early as September, a video, image and digital forensic scientist identified Drach as the perpetrator with a probability of “95 to 99 percent, with a tendency towards a lower value”. However, the expert withdrew from the process at the beginning of October due to concerns about bias, and his report was therefore null and void. According to the court order, the appraiser is said to have previously given a reporter who was reporting on the trial money for reporting that he liked. However, he is said to have refused acceptance and reported the process to the public prosecutor’s office instead.
In a statement subsequently requested by the court, the expert had denied the incident, but at the same time announced that he had feelings of “hatred” towards the defense lawyers in the process. He then asked for his release himself.
The prosecution accuses Drach of attempted murder in addition to the robberies. He is said to have shot money messengers in two acts and seriously injured them.
Drach became known to the public through the kidnapping of Jan Philipp Reemtsma. The 61-year-old only released the heirs of a tobacco company after paying a ransom. Drach was sentenced to 14.5 years in prison for the crime.
