In July 2022, a drunk Syrian raped a 15-year-old in Osnabrück. The verdict was passed this Friday: probation. The reasoning of the court: The man is on the way to becoming a normal citizen and the girl would at least get compensation for pain and suffering.
“You’re well on the way to becoming a normal fellow citizen here,” says the judge at the end of the trial against a 30-year-old man from Syria. He was accused of drunkenly raping a 15-year-old in Osnabrück. The court established this without a doubt. Nevertheless, the man gets away with a suspended sentence and compensation for the victim. The “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” reports on this.
‘Possibly poked’: Defense attorney blames rape on alcohol
“It was the first time that I drank alcohol,” says the 30-year-old in court. “Maybe he was pricked by the alcohol,” argues his defense attorney. The fact is that on the way home from a discotheque, the Syrian met the girl who was on her way to see her boyfriend. In Möserstrasse he asked her for a cigarette, smoked it and talked to her as far as his language skills allowed.
He later pushed her against a wall, fumbled with her and didn’t let go of the girl when she fled into a stairwell. Eventually, he used force to rape the girl. Exactly why remains open to this day.
The trial also revealed that the Syrian had given the 15-year-old a sachet containing half a gram of cannabis. This is one of the reasons why the 30-year-old was finally sentenced – but only to a suspended sentence.
“You are well on the way to becoming a normal citizen here”
“I’m not allowed to say anything about the content of the consultation, but we made it difficult for ourselves,” said the responsible judge at the district court after the verdict. The fact that he was disinhibited due to alcohol and did not have a significant criminal record speaks for the accused. From a purely legal point of view, the intensity of the rape was also “at the bottom”.
Finally, the judge highlighted another aspect. The man who fled Syria in 2015 could do one Apartment and soon also have a job. “You are well on the way to becoming a normal citizen here.”
Instead of jail, the rapist gets probation and has to pay damages
All of this saved the 30-year-old from jail. Instead, he’s now on three-year probation, can’t get more than 50 meters from his victim, and has to move away immediately if he sees the girl anywhere. He also has to pay 3,000 euros in damages to the 15-year-old.
According to the judge, this is also a positive thing for the victim. After all, the 15-year-old got more out of the suspended sentence than she would get out of jail. “That way you can at least work and pay her the compensation that she would certainly never get otherwise.”
