crime
Violence against demons? Trial over alleged abuse
The defendant stands tied hand and foot in the courtroom in the Schweinfurt regional court. photo
© Heiko Becker/dpa
Sleep deprivation, drugs, sex: the reports about life in a shared apartment in Lower Franconia are suitable for film. The alleged “guru” is also said to have acted against the will of a woman.
Prosecutor Melanie Roth told the Schweinfurt regional court that the defendant was a “spiritual leader” of the community. And in this capacity, the 42-year-old is said to have brutally raped and abused his former partner last May. “The injured party suffered multiple bruises, hematomas and swelling on her body as a result of the defendant’s punches, kicks and choking.” The woman was choked to the point of unconsciousness three times in the community’s rooms – all in order to drive out her alleged demons, said the prosecutor.
Prosecutor: Drugs and corporal punishment
According to the investigation, drugs such as cocaine and LSD played an important role in the group, for example in ridding members of “parasites” or detecting alleged misconduct. “The defendant’s methods also include corporal punishment and – as far as women are concerned in particular – the performance or toleration of sexual acts with and by the defendant,” said Roth.
At the start of the trial, dozens of supporters of the defendant came and tried to get into the courtroom – but there was no room for most of them. The sect representatives from the Catholic and Protestant churches were also there.
The defendant – wearing a white shirt, black suit and berry-colored tie – initially said nothing at the start of the trial. Rather, his defense lawyers made several requests, such as calling witnesses who would portray the alleged victim as a person with two faces. The woman is manipulative and has extreme sexual violent fantasies. “She wanted to break the defendant,” said one of the 42-year-old’s four lawyers.
Witness describes the victim’s condition
A witness who was with the allegedly abused woman on the day of the crime reported to the Grand Criminal Chamber that the woman looked very bad. “She had a swollen face. Her nose was bloody, her mouth was bloody.” She had already had the impression that the student was dependent on the defendant. “He probably beat her and tried to cast out her demons.”
According to them, one to two dozen people live in the shared apartment. The goal is to support people on their path to healing and growth. What exactly is meant by this is unclear.
Cult representative: Dropouts report hours-long tribunals
The cult representative of the Protestant regional church, Matthias Pöhlmann, who visited the shared apartment a few years ago and spoke to former members several times, describes the group as a social-utopian community. Authoritarian leadership style, group pressure, loss of privacy, hours-long tribunals in which individuals have to justify themselves – former people had reported this to him, he told the German Press Agency.
The club is also well known to the police. According to previous information from the public prosecutor’s office, witnesses described during investigations that a certain psychological pressure had been built up on community members in order to achieve certain behavior. Members were advised to leave the group if, in the eyes of the community, they moved outside of the community rules. “However, such influences are not relevant under criminal law,” the authority announced at the end of 2021.
The trial is scheduled to continue on Tuesday.