Berlin electrician charged with drug-facilitated rapes – up to 58 victims
A 68-year-old electrician from Berlin is alleged to have met women through dating platforms, incapacitated them and raped them. The public prosecutor's office estimates there could be up to 58 victims.
Berlin electrician charged with drug-facilitated rapes – up to 58 victims
The Berlin public prosecutor's office has filed charges against a 68-year-old electrician. The man is alleged to have contacted women through online dating platforms, incapacitated them with sleeping pills and alcohol, and then sexually abused them. According to G4Media.ro, citing Bild and Mediafax, the number of those affected could rise to up to 58.
The prosecution authority has accused the suspect of serious rape and serious bodily harm in 22 cases, directed against 14 women. According to investigators, the retiree deliberately sought out potential victims through digital contact platforms. During meetings, he is said to have administered a mixture of tranquillisers and alcohol to the women in order to render them helpless.
Particularly serious: according to the public prosecutor's office, the alleged assaults were filmed by the man. The affected women only learned of what had happened through the investigation, as they were unconscious during the acts.
The case came to light in early the previous year when police searched the suspect's flat based on an anonymous tip. Several electronic devices were seized. After a year of analysing the stored data, another raid took place in March of the current year, during which the 68-year-old was remanded in custody.
In addition to the 14 women listed in the charge sheet, investigators identified a further 30 alleged victims. Investigations are still ongoing in their cases. Additionally, there are ten other women who appear in the recordings, whose identities remain unknown.
Some of the alleged crimes can no longer be prosecuted. Thirty-six acts that are said to have been committed against one woman in the years 2010 to 2014 are, according to the authorities, statute-barred.
The Berlin Regional Court must now decide whether to admit the charges and open proceedings.
Source: G4Media