Man wants to convict pedophiles and is convicted of possession of child pornography

Krefeld
Man wants to convict pedophiles on the Internet – and is himself convicted of possession of child pornography

A Krefeld man belongs to a group that hunts pedo-criminal abusers online. Now he himself was on trial for having in his possession pictures of a naked girl.

A 31-year-old father has pretended to be an underage girl on the Internet. The Krefeld man was part of a 20-person group that had set itself the task of tracking down and reporting pedo-criminal abusers on the Internet. Now the man had to answer for himself in court – because of the possession of child pornography.

The district court in Krefeld sentenced him to a fine of 2,400 euros, to be paid as 120 daily rates of 20 euros each. The defendant admitted to having in his possession four relevant photos of a naked eight to ten year old girl. However, he claimed to have kept the images as evidence for any criminal proceedings against a pedophile he had reported. This was also confirmed by a police officer in court: He is said to have been in contact with the man for a long time. The court credited the accused with using the images to convict the perpetrators.

Man collected tips on pedo-criminal abusers

The man had already emailed the four photos of the girl to the police officer in July 2021. The judge at the Krefeld district court asked why the man had still saved the images almost a year after they had been sent to the police. After all, this is the offense of possession of child pornographic files. According to the defendant’s defense attorney, his client acted in error that he was allowed to possess the images in order to use them to prosecute criminal offences.

According to the public prosecutor, this view is “morally justifiable”. Nevertheless, “the accused is not privileged to pursue criminal offenses on his own.” This is the job of the police.

The accused father of a family had posed as an underage girl in various Internet forums and networks and tried to arrange meetings with pedo-criminals. He is said to have informed the police beforehand. The man is said to have filed about a hundred criminal charges within two years and sent evidence to the police several times.

Sources: DPA / West German newspaper

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