Five-year-old abused in Basel park: suspect remains in custody
A 23-year-old man is accused of sexually abusing a small girl in Basel in December 2025. The court of appeal rejected his bail appeal.
Court: risk of reoffending justifies continued remand custody
A 23-year-old man remains in remand custody after the court of appeal of Basel-Stadt dismissed his appeal against the extended detention. This is reported by 20 Minuten citing a recently published court decision.
According to the charges, the man is alleged to have dragged a five-year-old girl into a toilet facility in the Oekolampad Park in Basel's Iselinquarter on 18 December 2025 and sexually abused her there. He is said to have pushed the child's grandmother to the ground and injured her beforehand. A day later, he is alleged to have attacked another person with a knife.
The suspect has been in remand custody since 19 December 2025. From January 2026, the public prosecutor's office has been investigating charges of rape, sexual assault of a child, deprivation of liberty, bodily injury and attempted wilful homicide. When the remand custody was extended by three months in March 2026, the man lodged an appeal and demanded his immediate release.
His lawyer argued that the "diffuse DNA trace" did not conclusively prove his client's guilt. In the knife attack of 19 December 2025, there was also a lack of clear evidence, according to the defence.
The court of appeal did not follow this line of argument. The combination of DNA traces, video footage and witness statements created a clear picture, the court found. In the knife attack, a tracking dog followed a trail from the crime scene directly to the suspect's place of residence, where additional blood traces were also secured. The court found that the suspect had "within two days randomly injured victims in their physical, psychological and sexual integrity".
In substantiating the risk of reoffending, the court also relied on statements from the man's parents. The father stated during questioning: "You know, he is sick." The mother reported on her son's delusions of persecution and hallucinations.
The suspect therefore remains in remand custody. The presumption of innocence applies.
Source: 20 Minuten