Was it a case of religious fanaticism, or just some brazen teenage lie? The Ebersberg district court had to answer this question in a trial against a 25-year-old from the central district. The man, who comes from Syria, is said to have beaten, insulted and threatened his younger sister for years because he is said to have disagreed with her “open and self-determined lifestyle”, as the indictment put it. At least that’s what the now 17-year-old sister told investigators. The brother, on the other hand, vehemently denied ever having used violence against the girl.
The accused is said to have hit his sister with a prayer chain
Specifically, the hearing in Ebersberg dealt with two incidents from May 2020. First, the accused is said to have hit his sister in the face with his flat hand, and a few days later the situation in the family escalated completely. According to the public prosecutor, the 25-year-old discovered a photo on the girl’s cell phone in which she was walking with friends without a headscarf. He then freaked out, called his sister a “dirty Christian” and even threatened her with death. After allegedly hitting her in the face with the phone, he pushed her to the ground and kicked her in the abdomen. According to the indictment, the man is said to have beaten the girl with a prayer chain.
These were serious allegations, which the defendant denied in court. Instead, he told a very different version of the story. He loves his little sister and wants to protect her, “but sometimes she doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” said the 25-year-old. He alluded to the psychological problems that the girl had been struggling with for a long time. She had already left home several times, “we were worried,” said the man. In addition, she lived in a kind of parallel world and dreamed of leading a life like the people on Instagram and YouTube. Since she felt restricted in her family, she went to the youth welfare office in the hope of being able to lead a life without rules in a home. However, according to the accused, the authorities turned her away with the information that something had to happen in the family before she could be accepted. A few days later, the girl reported her brother to the police for the alleged beating.
“They think I’ve soiled the family honor,” says the girl
The 17-year-old repeated these allegations during the interrogation by the investigating judge. She wasn’t even able to testify in court because she now lives with her mother in Turkey. On the video that Judge Vera Hörauf played in the courtroom, the girl talked about the situation in her family. There were arguments every day, the father was violent and regularly beat her and her siblings. Above all, she herself has repeatedly felt the anger of the whole family. “They think I’ve soiled the family honor,” the girl said. “I just want to be treated the same as my brothers.”
She described the incidents as read in the indictment: from the slap in the face to the death threat to the beating with the prayer beads. The whole family watched and did nothing. But she doesn’t want to be angry with her brother because he believed at the moment that he was doing the right thing. “They thought hitting was normal,” said the girl in the video. There she also reported on other incidents in the past, for example when the accused allegedly beat her with a bottle and a coat hanger or banged her head against the wall. “I knew I couldn’t live here anymore.”
The siblings support the defendant’s version
After these two completely contradictory testimonies, it was up to the witnesses summoned in court – and they supported the defendant’s version. Both his younger brother and another sister asserted that there had never been violence against the girl. “She thinks we’re stupid people,” said the 23-year-old. “She didn’t want to live with us and she had to find a reason for that.” The sister also stated in court that the girl had repeatedly caused problems. “We knew she was ill,” said the 21-year-old. Her brother, on the other hand, was like a father to her, “he would never hit her”.
Ultimately, the allegations against the accused simply could not be proven. His client speaks perfect German, has learned a trade and is firmly rooted here, said the defense attorney. “The family doesn’t strike me as violent.” The prosecutor also admitted that the girl probably felt restricted in her cell phone use and wanted more freedom. Judge Vera Hörauf summed it up as follows when the verdict was announced: “There remain a total of doubts, which is why the accused must be acquitted.”