Proceedings terminated Suspected child molester from Friesdorf has an alibi

Bonn · The apparently solved case of child molestation, in which a 13-year-old boy from Bad Godesberg was the victim, is anything but solved: The 29-year-old suspect seems to have been in jail despite being innocent.

As spokesperson for the prosecution, Sebastian Buß, disclosed the man was released from imprisonment after presenting an „irrefutable alibi“. Prosecutor Buß explained that the case occurred as follows: In the night to July 6, a man had offered the 13-year-old, who was on the way home around midnight, a lift on his bike. The boy accepted the offer and got onto the bike.

But when the stranger set down the 13-year-old at his address half an hour later, he didn’t let the boy go, according to Buß. He wanted to give the boy a „hickey“ and when the boy was appalled and refused, the man attacked him: He wrestled him to the ground, hit him, pulled down his trousers and sexually abused him. Only when residents reacted to the cries of help of the boy, he fled. The boy ran home, told his parents of the events and they called the police. The boy described the man, who wore shorts and spoke German to him, in detail. Despite the publication of a identikit picture, the search was unsuccessful.

District court refuses opening of proceedings

On September 15, the boy saw a man on a playground and was sure: This is the culprit. The 29-year-old - until then a blameless civil war and family dad - repeatedly affirmed his innocence, but the boy’s statement stood against him, and he was held in custody. In November, he was charged with child molestation, his file ended up in the district court, but the court rejected the opening of proceedings.

In the meantime the defence lawyer, Martin Kretschmer, spoke with the distraught family of the man, through the aid of a translator, and told the court the result: The 29-year-old man does not speak German, doesn’t know the word for „hickey“ (“Knutschfleck“), never wears shorts out of religious reasons, does not own a bicycle and was at home with his sick child during the time of the crime. His wife called him at a friend’s house at around 11pm and asked for him to come home to her and the increasingly feverish child and he walked home. The next morning, he brought the child into a hospital, which was proven after a brief investigation. Further research revealed this information to be true, and a mobile phone check proved that the wife indeed called the 29-year old at 11pm.

The arrest warrant was lifted on December 6. With the non-opening of the proceedings the man is regarded as acquitted and cannot be charged in this case anymore. For the 82 days behind bars he can apply for a compensation for wrongful imprisonment at 25 Euro per day. „It is very unsatisfying to have to tell the boy that the culprit is not caught“, said Buß. But if this case can ever be solved, remains questionable.

(Original text: Rita Klein; Translation: Mareike Graepel)

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