Child molestation - Misuse of child models: Court lifts part of acquittal
The Federal Court of Justice has overturned the acquittal of a child model photographer on charges of serious sexual abuse. The case, which was heard at the Cologne Regional Court in 2022, attracted much attention due to the cunning behavior of the convicted offender.
The defendant was sentenced by the Regional Court to a total of four years and ten months in prison for serious sexual abuse of children in four cases. The prosecution objected to acquittals in five further cases, and a co-plaintiff also challenged the acquittal in question, according to the Federal Court of Justice.
The Federal Court of Justice overturned the Cologne judgment in the contested cases due to "factually-legal errors in the assessment of evidence." "The Chamber of the Court did not legally justify its assumption that the acts could not be concretely identified for a conviction," the Karlsruhe Criminal Senate stated. "Instead, it set unreasonably high requirements for the proof of specific acts." Therefore, the case was referred back to another chamber of the Regional Court.
According to the earlier findings of the Cologne Chamber, the man, who was an international photographer for child models, committed a large number of sexual acts and with prepubescent male children in a variety of cases. However, in twelve of the charged cases against three child model victims, acquittals were issued because it could not be determined that the photographer had committed the acts as described in the indictment. A temporal and spatial definition was also not possible.
Court recognizes highly manipulative behavior
According to the Cologne judgment of September 28, 2022, the man had contacted "male, prepubescent" Children-Fotomodels deliberately. He presented himself as a fatherly friend and built a near-family relationship with them. He spent leisure time with them, played Playstation with them in his penthouse apartment, gave them expensive gifts, or took them on trips, including to the Maldives.
The defendant acted "consciously, with a focus on committing a sexual abuse" in building good relationships with the children's parents, especially their mothers, the later victims. In the case of his first victim in 1999, the defendant was even so well acquainted with the parents that he became the godfather of the child. The Chamber mitigated the sentence, among other things, because the defendant would be "professionally destroyed" with the conviction.
- The Public Prosecutor's Office in North Rhine-Westphalia challenged the acquittal in additional five cases due to the child model photographer's alleged misuse of his position.
- The Federal Court of Justice, located in Karlsruhe, Germany, criticized the Cologne Regional Court's high requirements for proving specific acts of child molestation.
- The case of child molestation involving the photographer, who had a clientele in various parts of Germany, is now set to be heard again by a different chamber of the Regional Court due to legal errors identified by the Federal Court of Justice.
- The Professional Association of German Children's and Youth Photographers has expressed its concern over this incident, vowing to introduce measures to prevent such instances of criminality among its members.
- In light of this case, there have been calls for reforms in the German judicial system to ensure stricter penalties for individuals involved in child molestation, particularly those in positions of authority or influence.
