Overview
- The trial opened Thursday at the Landgericht Dortmund before the 31. Jugendstrafkammer in a non-public session and will continue with hearings scheduled into early August.
- Prosecutors say the indictment lists more than 180 alleged sexual offences that began when the accused was about 14 and continued until around 2010.
- The two victims are sisters born in 1991 and 1998 who reported the abuse decades later and told police the assaults followed a repeated pattern in family homes.
- Defense lawyer Nils Schiering told press the defendant admits part of the allegations and expects a suspended sentence under juvenile law, a development that could make witness testimony unnecessary.
- Under German procedure, alleged crimes committed while an offender was a minor must be heard behind closed doors and can be decided under juvenile law, a framework that focuses on education or rehabilitation and affects evidence and sentencing.