A girl tells of sexual assault by a home worker. Despite this, the institution fully supports him and he continues to work there.
The social worker, who had to answer before the district court, still works in the home where he is said to have abused a girl.
A 29-year-old social worker who works in a children’s and young people’s home is confronted with serious allegations: He is said to have sexually abused a girl who was housed in the home for around two and a half years. At the beginning the child was 10 years old. The allegations are based solely on the girl’s stories.
The accused denies everything. His defense attorney speaks of fantasy stories. The management of the home and all work colleagues stick to the social worker. He continues to work normally at home. The girl has been placed elsewhere.
The child entered the home because his mother was overwhelmed with the upbringing due to psychological problems and was inpatient in a sanatorium. According to the indictment, the accused should have started touching and stroking the girl on the thigh shortly after entering. Later, sexual contact is said to have occurred repeatedly in the waiting room or in the girl’s room, especially when the child was 11 and 12 years old. It’s all about french kissing, petting and oral sex.
The girl also speaks of sexual assaults in the suspect’s apartment. It was able to make a sketch of the apartment. The 29-year-old social worker not only denies the sexual acts in court, but also that the child was ever with him in his apartment. It must have seen the apartment in video chats and could have crept in on its own: the children in the home would have known where he had hidden the spare key for it. The attacks are said to have lasted until spring 2021. The accused was arrested in May 2021 and released from custody three days later.
The accused speaks of false accusations
The 29-year-old admits in court that the girl had a very good, close relationship and a great deal of trust with him. He thinks it was too focused on him. But it accuses him wrongly, which is incomprehensible to him. He doesn’t hate the child. He’s rather sad. It probably doesn’t know what to do with it. He could only assume that on the one hand it was an unrequited love of the girl for him. On the other hand, the child absolutely wanted to leave the home. And of course it is easiest to put a load on a conductor.
The accused portrayed a minute-long “battle” between him and the girl, of whom video recordings were found on his mobile phone, as harmless. Such a brawl often occurs in the home, also with other children. They were looking for a certain closeness that could not be given to them in any other way. He didn’t think about it at all. It was like playing. Other children and a social worker were also present. Today he is aware that he has to be careful and keep his distance.
A second charge is incitement to pornography. In chats in 2017 and 2018, the accused is said to have asked a total of three unidentified male chat partners who stated that they were not yet 16 years old via the Kik Messenger app to send him penis pictures. The accused acknowledges having conducted the chats. They are occupied. But he couldn’t remember because he was drunk. At that time he was feeling very bad and was drinking a lot. He denies incitement. The pictures were sent voluntarily.
The fact that the accused apparently has a problem with alcohol is also evident from a legally binding penalty order: On September 28, 2022, he was given a conditional fine of 100 daily rates of 90 francs for a probationary period of 2 years and 1800 francs for qualified driving in a condition where he was unable to drive penalties. He was caught driving a car with 2.28 per thousand in his blood.
4.5 years imprisonment required
The prosecutor wants a prison sentence of 4.5 years for multiple sexual acts with children and incitement to pornography and a lifelong ban from working. The girl made credible statements. In addition, a year before the accused was arrested, he told his girlfriends about sexual acts with him. The girl’s legal representative demands compensation of 40,000 francs.
The defense pleads for acquittals in relation to the allegations of sexual acts and incitement to pornography. The accused is only guilty of admitted multiple pornography and punished with a conditional fine. The statements of the alleged victim are extremely vague and contradictory. And even in the home, no one doubts that the allegations are false.
The girl’s motive could be disappointed love and trust. It had reported to the social worker that it had had unprotected sex in a hotel over the weekend. And the accused reported this to the home, which led to a criminal complaint, which has since been withdrawn.
Doubts about the child’s statements
At the beginning of his verdict, the court chairman Roland Heimann emphasized that the court was bound by the principle in dubio pro reo – in case of doubt for the accused. The social worker was acquitted of the allegations of multiple sexual acts with children and multiple incitement to pornography and only convicted of multiple pornography, because of the exchange and consumption of pictures in the chats. He receives a conditional fine of 50 daily rates of 90 francs, which is an additional penalty to the penalty order for the traffic offense. The girl’s civil claims are dismissed.
In his reasoning for the acquittal, Heimann primarily cited the statements made by the girl. In two interrogations by the public prosecutor’s office, these were not at all congruent, had contradictions, and original details were missing. It was “flat, dry descriptions” without emotional reference. The girl must have been in the suspect’s apartment, but the court does not know whether with the knowledge of the suspect and whether it had had a sexual connection. Her motive remains uncertain. The fact that she had told girlfriends about sexual acts a year before the arrest could also have been to make herself important.
In the case of pornography, incitement could not be identified. It was about three chats within two years, some of which were conducted over days and weeks. The exchange of penis pictures was mutual. Only sending and consumption are created. These chats irritated the court but already. Finally, Heimann gives the accused, who is not banned from working and can continue to work in the home, three pieces of advice: Because of the chats, he should go to a counseling center. In addition, he must get the alcohol under control and be more careful with the distance to the children in the home in the future.
Judgment DG220150 of November 2, 2022, not yet final.