Alleged attack on 14-year-old girl never happened Sexual assault was entirely made-up
BORNHEIM-MERTEN · The 14-year-old who claimed she had been attacked by a man in Bornheim-Merten on Wednesday evening made up the story. The sexual assault never happened.
The police has issued a statement explaining that the assault on a 14-year-old girl never happened. The teenager who was accompanied by a girlfriend, made up the incident entirely. The search for a culprit has been discontinued.
The girl had reported that she was attacked at around 5.45pm by an unknown culprit on the country lane leading from the Holzweg into the nature reserve in Bornheim-Merten. She claimed that the man touched her indecently and that he had hit her in the face. When she told her parents, they immediately called the police who searched the entire area around the alleged crime scene, also bringing a tracking dog. „We were under a certain time pressure, because the description of the crime was quite specific as were the search details. And there was quite an atmosphere of worry in the general public“, said Robert Scholten, spokesperson for the police in Bonn.
During the investigation the police did not find any indications of a crime when they interviewed residents and passers-by. „We then looked back at the description of the events by the two girls and spoke to them again“, said Scholten. It appeared then that the whole story was completely made-up.
Due to the young age of both teenagers the police made no further comment on why the girl had made-up the story. „We are closing this investigation and will discuss further action with the public prosecutor’s office“, said Scholten.
(Original text: GA Bonn Translation: Mareike Graepel)
