Because he coerced girls into self-harm and attacked men out of anti-gay hostility, an 18-year-old is to be imprisoned. The Hamburg Regional Court sentenced him on Wednesday to a four-and-a-half-year juvenile term. It found him guilty of multiple counts of sexual abuse and ten counts of dangerous bodily harm.
As the court determined, the defendant pressured seven girls aged between 12 and 15 years old over the Internet to compel them to engage in sexual and self-harming acts, sometimes acting alone and sometimes with others.
Gay men lured into dating traps
He also attacked and injured seven gay men in a group. He arranged meetings with them on dating platforms using false names. The victims were lured to secluded places such as poorly visible country paths or park areas. Instead of the hoped-for date, the defendant was often waiting there, usually accompanied by other youths, hurling homophobic slurs, beating them, and robbing them. The injuries sustained by the victims included significant head and facial injuries, including extensive bruising, deep lacerations, and facial bone fractures.
In the past months, several cases of alleged online sadism have come to light. Among others, since January in Hamburg a 21-year-old man who referred to himself as “White Tiger” has stood trial. He is said to have pressured emotionally unstable youths via the Internet to commit acts of violence against themselves; a 13-year-old is said to have taken his own life. The 21-year-old German-Iranian is charged with murder and five counts of attempted murder.
However, the Hamburg Regional Court did not determine that the 18-year-old now convicted in the first instance had cooperated with him. Since he was still a minor at the time of the act, the trial against him was not public. The verdict is not yet legally binding; an appeal may still be filed with Germany’s Federal Court of Justice. (AFP)
