A young woman (27) was dragged into some bushes and raped in a small town in broad daylight. The following day, the alleged perpetrator was arrested – a rejected asylum seeker (aged 24). Yet it is only now, almost four weeks later, that the case has come to light following enquiries made to the authorities.
The 27-year-old was out and about on the afternoon of August 9 in the town of Friedland, near Neubrandenburg, which has a population of 6,000, when the man approached her, overpowered her and dragged her from the pavement behind a former restaurant. No one in the quiet residential area appeared to have noticed the woman fighting for her life. Hidden by trees and bushes, she was assaulted and left injured. Her attacker escaped.
However, the German woman was later able to give the police a detailed description of what he looked like, what clothes he was wearing and how he could be recognised. “Shortly after the incident, there were leads pointing to a specific suspect,” a police spokeswoman told the newspaper BILD. “To avoid jeopardising a possible arrest, a public appeal for witnesses was not issued.”
The following evening, the West African man was arrested in Friedland. According to information obtained by BILD, investigators believe he did not flee any further because he assumed they would not track him down anyway. He is said to have spent time at an asylum seekers’ centre in the town on several occasions, but did not live there. Prior to this, the 24-year-old had been in the neighbouring district of Vorpommern-Greifswald. He is now in pre-trial detention.
The public prosecutor’s office decided not to publicise the rape – for reasons of victim protection, it was stated. The man, who is originally from Benin, had sought asylum in Germany, but his application was rejected, as first reported by the newspaper Nordkurier. However, he had lodged an appeal against this decision. “A ruling has not yet been issued, which is why the rejection of the asylum application is not yet legally binding and he held a valid temporary residence permit at the time of the offence,” explained Public Prosecutor Michael Ziemke in response to an enquiry from BILD.