process
Preventive detention ordered for “Horror House” perpetrators
Wilfried W. stands in a hall at the Paderborn regional court. photo
© Friso Gentsch/dpa
He repeatedly tortured women – two died. Wilfried W. has now served almost half of his sentence, and it is now clear: the convicted “Horror House” perpetrator will not be released any time soon.
The man accused of fatally abusing two women in the so-called The perpetrator convicted of Höxter’s horror house should be in preventive detention after serving his sentence. The Paderborn regional court ordered this on Thursday because it considers Wilfried W. to be dangerous. The verdict is not yet legally binding.
The chamber thus agreed with the assessments of two psychiatric experts who had assessed Wilfried W. for the proceedings that had been ongoing since the end of August. They saw W. as a great risk of repetition. The forensic experts attested that W. had great manipulation skills and criminal intelligence, a lack of empathy and callousness.
In his plea on Thursday, senior public prosecutor Ralf Meyer also referred to the experts’ unanimous assessment that W. would most likely be expected to commit acts that would cause serious physical or mental harm to his victims. There is therefore no milder means than preventive detention. After serving prison time, it serves to protect the general public from dangerous perpetrators.
Defense: Assisted living instead of prison
The defense announced that it would appeal the verdict. The Federal Court of Justice must decide whether the court’s standard of review was sufficient – or whether much more extensive aspects should have been taken into account in the assessment, said lawyer Carsten Ernst after the trial.
The defense had tried until the very end to avert preventive detention. His client remained calm during his imprisonment, even in difficult situations, said lawyer Carsten Ernst in his closing statement. Like the expert in the original proceedings, he assumes that W. is unable to distinguish between right and wrong behavior: he lacks any moral compass. His client would therefore be better off in an assisted living arrangement after prison than behind prison bars.
Housed in the regular prison system
For years, Wilfried W. had tortured several women in the house in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia with his ex-wife, who was also convicted. They beat, scalded and tied up their victims and forced them to follow a rigid set of rules. Two of the victims from Lower Saxony died completely emaciated after months of abuse. He was sentenced to eleven years in prison in 2018.
At that time, the court classified W. as having reduced criminal responsibility and had him committed to a psychiatric hospital – a misjudgment, as experts later determined. The experts had doubts about his limited control ability. In 2020, a court classified him as culpable and had him placed in the regular prison system.
The public prosecutor then subsequently requested that he be placed in preventive detention after his release from prison.