Probation conditions tightened: Child sex offender from Bad Bertrich ordered to undergo therapy
A 31-year-old abused two children in Bad Bertrich in 2025. The Koblenz Regional Court upheld the suspended sentence but imposed significantly harsher conditions.
Probation conditions tightened: Child sex offender from Bad Bertrich ordered to undergo therapy
Two years imprisonment, suspended on probation – this was the sentence handed down by Cochem District Court last year against a then 30-year-old man. He was accused of luring two minors, aged eight and eleven, into a hotel room in Bad Bertrich in May 2025 and performing sexual acts in front of them. The Koblenz Regional Court has now upheld this sentence in the appeal proceedings, but imposed significantly stricter conditions on the convicted man.
The man must henceforth perform 300 hours of community service and undergo mandatory sex therapy. The originally lenient sentence came about through a plea deal: the accused fully admitted the offences, which spared the two victims from being questioned as witnesses in court.
After the conclusion of the first trial, however, the convicted man withdrew his admission and appealed. His lawyer publicly acknowledged that the previous admission had been strategically motivated to secure early release. His client denies the offences.
Because only the defendant, not the prosecution, had filed an appeal, the legal principle of the prohibition against worsening prevented a harsher sentence. Had the public prosecutor's office also filed an appeal, tougher sentencing would have been possible.
In the second proceeding, the young victims had to give evidence as witnesses after all. A family member criticised the fact that the children had to relive the traumatic offence as a result. The lenient first-instance sentence had been barely bearable anyway; at minimum, the testimony in court should have been spared to the victims.
Nevertheless, the relatives expressed relief. Confidence in the judiciary had returned, the brother of one victim told SWR. The judges had signalled that they would have issued harsher rulings if legally possible.
The defence counsel Nikolai Odebralski announced that he would possibly continue to challenge the verdict. He could not understand the confirmation, since the children had made contradictory statements in their interviews.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)