Hamburg trial: Klara Block recounts her abduction on New Year's Eve
The now 16-year-old daughter of steakhouse heiress Christina Block speaks publicly about her abduction for the first time. In a podcast, she describes the events of New Year's Eve 2023/24.
Klara Block recounts abduction on New Year's Eve
After almost 80 days of proceedings, the Hamburg trial against steakhouse heiress Christina Block is entering its final phase. The 53-year-old is accused of hiring an Israeli security firm to abduct her two children from Denmark. According to WELT, her now 16-year-old daughter Klara has now spoken publicly about the incidents for the first time.
In the podcast "House of Block" from the series "Zeit Verbrechen", Klara describes for the public how she experienced the night of the act. Until now, she had only reported her experiences to the court in camera. "I wanted to tell what happened to me and my family on that New Year's Eve," she says in the first episode. At the time, she was 13 years old.
At the time of the abduction, Klara lived with her then ten-year-old brother Theo at their father Stephan Hensel and his Danish partner Astrid Have in Grasten, directly behind the German-Danish border. The reason for their placement in Denmark: a custody dispute between their father and their mother Christina Block had escalated after the children did not return to their mother as arranged. "And then she saw red. And I didn't want to back down," Hensel explains in the podcast.
Security measures and initial warning signs
The family was already under considerable tension. Astrid Have reports cameras that had been discovered in the garden of the house, as well as unknown men watching the house. Suspicious people had also appeared at the school. Danish police took the concerns seriously and equipped the children with emergency buttons – devices that send an emergency call when activated and record the surroundings via microphone.
Despite these precautions, the adults gave in to the children's wish to watch the fireworks at the harbour on New Year's Eve. "I didn't want to be the paranoid one. And then we said: Well, it's just before midnight. Let's go to the harbour once more," Hensel explains the decision. Astrid Have adds: "You can't tell your children: 'No, you can't go out because you could be abducted.'"
The fireworks caused fear in Have's younger daughter, so mother and child returned to the house. Hensel remained with Klara and Theo on a terrace approximately 140 metres from the harbour.
The attack shortly before midnight
Suddenly, according to Hensel's account, a "completely disguised person" stood in front of him. "Then I was already on the ground. I also tried to turn around to get into an attack position. Accordingly, I was hit in the face with a fist. I was kicked in the abdomen, repeatedly. And also on the body."
Klara remembers screams – those of her father. "As loud as he had ever screamed. I mean, it was terrible, dreadful," she says. Her brother Theo also screamed. Klara stayed with him: "I thought I couldn't leave him alone."
She watched as her father lay on the ground and men dragged her brother into a car. One of the attackers also pressed his hand over her mouth. "And that smell, it's a really typical glove smell," Klara recalls. She screamed in German, Danish and English. Two men finally grabbed her by the head and legs and carried her to a vehicle.
The journey and Klara's fear
During the journey, the siblings lay on top of each other in the footwell of a vehicle. An older man sat in the back with them. "I pinched myself, I closed my eyes. I thought that wasn't happening," Klara describes her psychological reaction. "Then she realises: We're driving and we're driving really fast."
During the journey, Theo pressed his emergency button nine times in total. He lay under Klara and complained of breathing difficulties, upon which she tried to change her position. However, one of the abductors instructed her in English: "Be quiet now."
Klara's thoughts at this time centred on her father. She feared the perpetrators had killed him with a knife. "I was really afraid he would be dead," she says. When the children later learned they were to be taken to their mother, they apparently reacted differently than the abductors had expected. On the recordings of the emergency button, both can be heard protesting: "No!"
Outcome of proceedings still unclear
When the trial against Christina Block ends is not yet known. The businesswoman faces up to ten years in prison. She denies all allegations; the presumption of innocence applies. Custody of her two youngest children now lies entirely with their father in Denmark.
Source: WELT