process
Gucci gang: intensive offenders as pimps in court
The regional court suspension railway stop in Wuppertal. photo
© Oliver Berg/dpa
Five years ago, the Gucci gang caused a stir far beyond Wuppertal. Two of the intensive perpetrators have been back in court since Thursday. It’s about pimping and underage prostitutes.
Two 19 year olds, acting as teenagers The intensive offender and part of the Gucci gang caused a stir and are said to have acted as pimps for underage prostitutes. A total of three defendants have been standing before the Wuppertal regional court since Thursday, but the court excluded the public before the charges were read out.
This was justified not only by the fact that some of the defendants were still minors at the time of the crime, but also by the protection of the minor victims who were supposed to testify as witnesses on Thursday.
Death of a pensioner
Five years ago, the so-called Gucci gang caused a stir in Wuppertal. At that time, young intensive care perpetrators beat and kicked a 70-year-old pensioner, who became a long-term need for care and died as a result of the crime last autumn. The young people named themselves after a rap song (“Gucci Gang”).
Two of the former gang members from back then are said to have now earned money as a pimp through the prostitution of 14 to 16 year old girls, a 21-year-old who has comparatively few crimes to his name. Five girls are said to have actually made the purchase, and a sixth girl had already agreed to do so. The three defendants now have to answer for a large number of cases of pimping and forced prostitution.
Signs of forced prostitution
Initially, the prostitution happened at the girls’ request, according to the public prosecutor’s office. But she also sees signs of forced prostitution, because the young people couldn’t get out that easily. “Deciding voluntarily does not mean voluntarily participating all the time,” Chief Public Prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert said before the trial. “We assume that at least some of the girls wanted to leave at some point and were then persuaded to continue using very rough methods.”
The girls are said to have prostituted themselves mostly in the apartment of one of the defendants, but also in a hotel. The contacts with the suitors are said to have come about via an online platform on which the young people were offered. According to the prosecution, they were instructed to present themselves to the johns as 18 years old and therefore of legal age. That’s why there are no investigations against the johns.
The defendants also have to answer for grievous bodily harm. For unknown reasons, they are said to have intervened in an argument and seriously injured a man with a knife and bottles. The two intensive perpetrators were themselves minors for at least some of the crimes they are accused of.