Civil action had demanded the public to be excluded from the questioning of the witness and the judges approved of this motion. The reason: There will be „circumstances mentioned which concern the privacy of the witness. There will also be questions about the sexual relationship of the couple as well as the consequences of the rape“.

To protect the witness from the cameras, he was walked into the court room via the basement. The same way as the accused Eric X. An hour earlier, who was restrained again at hands and feet.

The questioning of the witness took more than four hours. The 27-year-old did not look at the accused once. Equally he was not willing to identify him as the rapist of his girlfriend. The voice and the African tinged English of the 31-year-old, who apparently also asked him questions that night, he recognised, he said. But the voice was a lot more excited at the time.

Chamber chairman Marc Eumann demanded the accused one last time to confess. Also to spare the victims having to testify. But the message did not get through to Eric X. The refugee from Ghana declared himself innocent again and said at the very start of the trial that he doubted that his DNA was found on the woman. It took him all night he to translate the report with the aid of a dictionary. „What’s in there is all lies“, he said.

Then he demanded from the prosecution to get a „real doctor“ to solve this „error“: „I need the truth here, not lies.“ The DNA expert of the State Office of Criminal Investigation had confirmed that the semen traces on the victim were indeed Eric X.’s. With a guaranty of 30 billion to one, said the doctor. On Monday, the 23-year-old victim will be heard - certainly behind closed doors as well.

Original text: Ulrike Schödel Translation: Mareike Graepel