Erfurt District Court
Castrations offered on the Internet – pensioner in court
After a 75-year-old man allegedly offered castrations in internet forums and carried them out at home, he now has to answer to the court in Erfurt. Photo
© Michael Reichel/dpa
Castration on the couch: A pensioner in Sömmerda, Thuringia, is said to have removed men’s testicles for a fee. He initially remained silent in court, but investigators described disturbing events.
Internet forums, sexual services and amputations of genitals: A 75-year-old man has to face Castration of men before the Erfurt Regional Court. The defendant initially remained silent at the start of the proceedings, although the presiding judge pointed out that a confession would be considered a mitigating factor in the event of a conviction. According to the court, the pensioner is accused of having carried out eight surgical procedures in his living room in Sömmerda between 2015 and 2019 – for payment and without medical training.
He is said to have offered his services in relevant forums on the Internet. The victims are said to have paid between 500 and 2200 euros for the procedures. To protect the privacy of the injured, the public was excluded from the reading of the charges. The investigators tracked down the accused after a tip-off from colleagues from Erdingen, who were investigating another castration case against a man from Bavaria.
Shocking evidence
An officer from the Erfurt Criminal Investigation Department testified in the witness stand that a subsequent search of the 75-year-old’s apartment resulted in numerous data storage devices such as hard drives being confiscated. The officer also spoke of vast amounts of chat histories. In addition, surgical utensils such as a kidney bowl with scissors and tweezers were confiscated, with blood from several people on them. Chloroform and a tube for tying things off were also among the evidence seized. The operations were carried out on the couch in the living room. The officer described the apartment itself as dirty and unhygienic.
The officer spoke of a victim from Austria who had undergone major operations and reported in chats about significant complications afterwards. The public prosecutor assumes that the men involved agreed to this voluntarily. The officer saw a conglomerate of motives for the castrations in both the accused and the victims. In his opinion, this included not only sexual and financial interests but also the exercise of power and fantasies.
A chief detective from Erdingen, who was also questioned as a witness, said that during the investigation into their case they came across a “cutter from Erfurt” and a “Thuringian 47” with a full-body photo on the Internet. During the investigation, “a door to another world” was opened for them.
Case in Bavaria
In December 2021, a then 67-year-old electrician was sentenced to more than eight years in prison at the Munich II Regional Court for serious, dangerous and simple bodily harm. He had admitted to offering “castrations” in sadist forums on the Internet. Several men paid him money to torture them and remove their testicles, for example. One of the men died after the procedure – the court was unable to determine how.
The trial in Erfurt was suspended in January due to the defendant’s illness and therefore had to start again. The defendant is accused of, among other things, grievous bodily harm. If convicted, the man faces between three and 15 years in prison.