When Police Chief Moritz A. was on civilian patrol at the Oktoberfest on September 26th last year, he paid particular attention to “people who didn’t fit into the picture in terms of their behavior.” One person to whom this applied from the officer’s point of view was a young man who pushed his way through other festival tent visitors in the aisles of Kuffler’s wine tent around 12:30 a.m. It was Mohammed S.
This Tuesday, the 29-year-old had to appear before the district court. According to police chief A., he observed S. in the wine tent “lightly wiping the buttocks of several ladies with the back of his hand as they passed by.” The officer called a colleague. As they left the festival tent, both of them confronted the alleged groper, who was said to have recently rubbed the back of his hand over a student’s bottom.
According to the prosecution, the situation escalated immediately when S. was to be subjected to an identity check. The 29-year-old is said to have tried to hit and kick the plainclothes officers. One of the officers was slightly injured. It was only with the help of four other Oktoberfest guards that they were able to bring him to the ground and put handcuffs on him.
S.’s visit to the Oktoberfest ended with an indictment for an assault on law enforcement officers and resistance, intentional and attempted bodily harm, and sexual harassment. The student who is said to have last groped S. also filed a complaint. She told the police that she found the attack “super disgusting”. It is unclear whether the other women, whose bottoms S. is said to have rubbed with the back of his hand, noticed this.
“And?” Judge Daniel Hinz asked Mohammed S. whether he wanted to say anything about the allegations after the charges were read out. “I haven’t touched anyone at all,” replied the 29-year-old and shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know that the men who spoke to him were police officers. According to the chairman, one of them loudly shouted “police” and “police”. “I didn’t hear that,” replied S. and claimed that during the arrest a police officer pressed his knee so hard against his head that he could no longer breathe. The officials denied this in court. The defendant’s larynx was “not pressed”.
The representative of the public prosecutor’s office demanded one year and two months in prison – without parole – in order to “defend the legal system”. Mohammed S’s defense attorney found that the sexual harassment was at the “absolutely lowest level.” During the police check, his client, who understands neither German nor English, was overwhelmed.
Judge Daniel Hinz ultimately punished the sexual assault with a fine because the defendant was alcohol-inhibited. Mohammed S. received a ten-month prison sentence for the confrontation with the police. The court combined both sentences into a suspended sentence totaling eleven months.