A young masseur has received a more lenient sentence in his appeal against a conviction for rape and assault. He has now been given a two-year suspended sentence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. In doing so, the Stuttgart Regional Court overturned the ruling of the Esslingen Magistrates’ Court, which had sentenced the Tunisian man to two years and two months’ imprisonment under the Criminal Code for adults. As the sentence is now two years, a suspended sentence is possible. This would not have been possible had the sentence been for more than two years.
The court found the man guilty of raping a woman in Wernau (Esslingen district). The offence took place in a hammam. The appeal proceedings did not concern the offence itself, as the defendant had admitted to this during the first trial. Rather, the defence had argued that the man should be sentenced under juvenile criminal law rather than adult criminal law. The defendant, who is from Tunisia, stated that he was not yet 21 years old at the time of the offence. He had claimed that he could not find his passport.
At the express request of the woman concerned, who works as a gynaecologist, the trial was held in public. Following the verdict, Christine Ost (name changed) expressed her disappointment that the perpetrator would not be going to prison. She is also familiar with the consequences of rape from her work. “I don’t know any woman who ever says, ‘It’s over’,” Ost told German broadcaster SWR. “I have patients who can no longer have sex. I have patients who can no longer give birth. And the vast majority of women do not report it.”
The experience continues to affect her every day. Her life is divided into a “before” and an “after”, she explained. She would like to see more such offences reported in future. “Because that is the only way we will finally get to grips with the problem – by ensuring that perpetrators also fear prosecution,” she said.
Ost would have preferred to avoid the appeal process, she told SWR before the verdict. After all, the second trial forced her to relive the incident in her mind. She can still clearly remember that day in December when she had booked a massage to relax. She initially felt completely at ease in the nude area. But then the young man became increasingly domineering as he massaged her. That was when she realised something was wrong. “He penetrated my vagina with his fingers several times as far as they would go – that is, right up to the cervix,” said the gynaecologist. She herself then fell into a state of shock-induced paralysis.
A second, older masseur is said to have been present in the same room the whole time. Christine Ost says the two men made eye contact with one another. In December 2025, the older masseur was sentenced to two years and five months’ imprisonment for the rape of another woman. However, the verdict was not yet final at that time.
It is not the victim of rape who should feel ashamed, but the perpetrator. Christine Ost, victim
The hammam in Wernau has already come under fire on several occasions in recent years over allegations of sexual assault. Following the rape of Christine Ost, the leaseholder’s contract was terminated.