At around quarter past midnight, according to senior public prosecutor Claudia Trauzettel the accused Eric X. cut open the tent with a saw, threatened the woman and took six Euro and a portable loudspeaker from her. He is said to have then verbally attacked the female student and raped her approximately ten meters away from the tent, with the axe within reach. The boyfriend of the the victim had to stay in the tent and listen to the crime without being able to intervene. In their statements in this trial, police officers have stated last week that the victim reacted with incredible presence of mind: She surrendered to her oppressor, unresisting, and demanded her boyfriend to keep his knife hidden and instead call the police.

The 26-year-old man was questioned last week as well - like the victim, behind closed doors. He made clear that he recognized the voice of the 31-year-old Ghanian as well as the African accent in the accused’s speech.

The accused again controverted the report of the State Office of Criminal Investigation, which said that sperm traces were found on the rape victim which belong - according to the expert - to the culprit with a probability of 30 billion to one.

The statement of the victim staid behind closed doors also after the court day was over. The possibility that the female student’s statements made an impact on the accused refugee from Ghana seemed likely during the public statement of expert witness Dr. Wolfgang Schwachula. The accused looked at the head physician of the LVR clinic Langenfeld at first, but he hung his head afterwards and wiped tears from his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.

If this may be a sign of remorse or an expression of his mental constitution, remained unclear. The experts’ report offers more of an insight. „The accused shows a clear discrepancy between his behavior and the motive for his action - so, between what happened and what he wants to think happened“, explained Schwachula. The reasons for this lie in the accused’s past. Eric X. grew up in relatively luxurious circumstances, as the son of a plantation owner and as „the prince“ of the family, who was supposed to inherit the father’s estate one day. After the father’s death there was a fight which ended with Eric X. battering his brother-in-law to death and fleeing.

During the conversations with the accused it appeared that he is emotional unstable as well as narcissistically predispositioned.

The conclusion of the experts: „The conversations and the behavior during the crime show, that the accused is fully responsible for his actions and also dangerous above average.“ Schwachula ruled the possibility of a therapy out, because the 31-year-old behaved rather withdrawn and unreasonable.

The verdict is expected during this week.