An Iraqi migrant is on trial for raping an 82-year-old woman in her Hamburg apartment building twice last summer, with the trial now running since Tuesday.
The migrant is 36-year-old Hawzheen A. (photo), who is unemployed, and reportedly suffers from “psychological problems,” according to Bild. Due to this, Hawzheen A. is not serving his time in detention in a prison but instead inside a “therapeutic institution.”
During the incident, he attacked the old woman, dragged her to a bedroom and then proceeded to rape her, according to prosecutors. In a second attack, he dragged the woman to another apartment one floor down which belonged to a friend and raped her there.
The woman only called the police after the second incident.
However, it is not the only criminal charges he is facing. In January 2023, he was accused of attacking an unknown woman from behind while they were inside a cafe in the Horn district, at which point he brought her to the ground and kicked her. Guests inside the cafe reportedly intervened to help the woman. When police arrived, he fought and kicked them as well as spat on them.
Two weeks later, Hawzheen A., was involved in an incident where he began damaging property. He fought the police so hard that he was transported face down inside a police van and three officers were injured during the struggle to arrest him.
The defendant has remained silent during his trial so far. It is expected to run until Friday.
Migrants involved with sexual violence against elderly women are not so uncommon. Last year, a Syrian migrant sexually assaulted a 78-year-old woman, only to be released and rape a 23-year-old the next day. Also last year, a migrant raped two elderly women in a hospital and said he was “forced to rape” because he “didn’t have a girlfriend.” And on New Year’s morning last year, a migrant committed a break-in and raped a 75-year-old French woman.
In 2022, an Iraqi migrant raped a 90-year-old disabled woman confined to a wheelchair inside a hospital in Germany.
In France, there has been a wave of migrants raping or sexually assaulting elderly women. Last year, a migrant was jailed for the attempted rape of a woman who was 102 years old.