Between December 2016 and March 2018, the man is said to have sought contact with young girls - mostly between the ages of eight and twelve - in 44 cases via various chat channels. Most of the victims are said to live in the USA, but he is also said to have found them in the Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany. The man confessed.

Apparently, in order not to be photographed or filmed, the defendant sat down in the auditorium before the trial. Only when the judge entered did he stand up and switch to the dock, where he sat next to his defender Matthias Brauer. From there, he followed the reading of the 44 points of the indictment, which lasted about one hour, without any visible movement and with his head bowed low.

The man is said to have chatted with the girls for hours and hours, mostly at night, for about a year and during this time he asked them to perform sexual acts on him or to watch him do them. He recorded video and photo files, which in many cases he also sent to the children.

The police had found out about the man from American investigators. On 13 March 2018, his computer and several modems were confiscated by officers of the Federal Criminal Police Office.

Even before the confession, the defense caused a surprise: because he had repeatedly pointed out the "overwhelming burden of proof" to those involved in the trial, the presiding judge Wolfgang Schmitz-Justen was biased, according to attorney Brauer, and requested the reassignment of the chamber. After a short break, Schmitz-Justen decided that the main trial should continue until a decision on the request for bias had been reached and began the taking of evidence in camera with the questioning of the first witness. However, this was not one of the victims - instead the former partner of the accused testified.

The fact that she had separated from him had hit him hard, according to the defendant. "My world collapsed. I couldn't understand it. She was my dream woman". Although he confessed, it was not yet clear whether he had fully realized the implications of his actions: he first conceded the diagnosis of pedophilia, only to claim shortly afterwards that he might also be schizophrenic.

The teacher said that he was very pleased with the arrival of the police. As soon as his actions had been discovered, he then went to Erfurt for therapy. The final diagnosis: pedophilia. Back home he had received the news of his suspension from the school service and that had really opened his eyes: Until then, he had assumed that at some point he would be able to work as a teacher again. Since then, the Studienrat has apparently completed a veritable "clinic hopping". Apparently, he did not agree with the respective diagnoses.

(Original text: Leif Kubik/Translation: Mareike Graepel)