Targeted contact with young people: Ex-priest stands trial for child abuse

Targeted contact with young people
Former priest on trial for child abuse

24.09.2024, 14:21

A former priest has to answer to the district court in Fulda. The reason: He is alleged to have shown minors child pornography videos on the Internet. Some of his victims are said to have been forced to undress.

The trial of a former Catholic priest has begun at the Fulda Regional Court on suspicion of child sexual abuse without physical contact and the production and possession of child and youth pornography. The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office is charging him with a total of 71 cases that he is said to have started in the Fulda district. According to the indictment, the 43-year-old is said to have contacted children and young people via an online video chat platform from September 2021 to July 2022 and played them videos of child sexual abuse.

The man had contact with both underage boys and girls and initially showed them videos. In these videos, children posed naked with each other, with young people or with adults, or performed sexual acts on themselves and others, it was said. He asked some of his victims to undress or to perform acts on themselves.

In nine cases, sexual abuse of children without physical contact is actually suspected. The former pastor saved the video chats with the victims on his laptop. In total, the man owned hundreds of photos and videos.

The defendant’s defense made an initial statement after the charges were read out. The man had been active in the Catholic Church since childhood. He had long toyed with the idea of ​​becoming a priest, but often struggled with celibacy. During two relationships – one of which was during his time as a priest – he had experienced “normal eroticism” and felt attracted to women. In the wake of the corona pandemic, he had experienced a higher workload and loneliness.

According to his own statements, the man remembered a confession via the video chat platform he was using and tried it out. He was fascinated by the “very young people there”. “I should have done sports instead,” the man explained in his statement. He now knows that his actions have caused suffering to children and young people. The regional court has scheduled nine further dates for the proceedings up to October 29.