Berlin (D) – Judge sentenced “Cannibals von Pankow” to life imprisonment

In the trial of the cannibal murder of a 43-year-old man in Berlin, the capital’s district court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment. The court found the 42-year-old teacher Stefan R. guilty of murder and disturbing the peace of the dead on Friday. The presiding judge Matthias Schertz said that he had murdered insidiously “in order to implement cannibalism fantasies” and thereby satisfy his sexual instinct.

The court also determined the particular gravity of the defendant’s guilt. He has been a judge for 30 years and has dealt with murder crimes for 13 years, but “something like that wasn’t on my table yet,” said Schertz.

“That is inhuman, what you did there,” he addressed to the accused, who, like the previous hearing, followed the grounds for the verdict without expression and emotion. It was “a particularly despicable act,” said the chairman.

The criminal chamber saw it as proven that the victim had arranged a sex meeting with the accused on September 6, 2020 via a dating platform. In R’s apartment, he is said to have sedated the man with a drug, then cut his throat and severed his genitals in order to eat them. He is said to have dismembered the body and deposited the parts with rented cars at various locations in the Pankow district.

R. had previously had battle and cannibalism fantasies and was then “determined to put his ideas into practice,” said Schertz. Numerous slaughter and emasculation instructions as well as slaughter tools were also found in the condemned’s apartment. The “very careful separation of testicles and penis” also shows that R. had implemented his cannibalistic ideas.

After an initial silence, the convict had his defense counsel read out a statement during the trial. In it he admitted that he had met with the deceased. However, he died of natural causes in the apartment afterwards. He dismembered and disposed of the body because he was afraid that his homosexuality would come to light.

Judge Schertz dealt with the admission in his judgment and called it “unbelievable from back to front”. There is a very considerable inhibition threshold to divide a person. Homosexuality is also fully accepted nowadays.

“The verdict is in the interests of my clients,” said lawyer Sven Peitzner, who represented the victim’s parents as a joint plaintiff in the trial, after the verdict was pronounced. With its judgment, the criminal chamber followed the application of the public prosecutor’s office, which had previously applied for life imprisonment for murder and the determination of the particular severity of guilt.

R. wanted to live the killing and sometimes eating of a person in real life, “in order to enjoy it sexually,” said public prosecutor Martin Glage in his plea. “The virtual acting out was no longer enough for him.”

The defense demanded an acquittal. Lawyer Kristina Beulich stated that the cause of death of the injured party was “unclear”. In addition, fantasies alone – even cannibalistic – are “not punishable”.

The crime was discovered in November 2020 after human bones were found in Pankow. Investigations showed that it was parts of the body of the 43-year-old from Berlin, who had been missing for several weeks. Elaborate further investigations, including the evaluation of the dead person’s cell phone data, then led to the suspect’s apartment.

There, police officers found blood, other body parts and suspicious tools, among other things. The defendant was arrested immediately after his home was searched and has been in custody ever since. According to an expert, he is fully guilty.