“I didn’t do that!” These are the words used by a 24-year-old asylum seeker to defend himself against the accusations made against him. According to a police report from the weekend, he allegedly sexually molested an underage visitor to the Prenzlau youth centre and beat or threatened two other children, the newspaper Uckermark Kurier reported. During the interview in the editorial office, the Syrian strongly denied this version.
The man, who has been living in Germany for one and a half years, told the police that the girl had been the one responsible for the incident on the day in question. He does not know why the girl’s family later filed a complaint against him. The refugee swore that the 14-year-old girl had taken his hand in front of the facility on the street Georg-Dreke-Ring and encouraged him to enter the youth club. “Inside, she then asked me if I wanted to kiss her. I didn’t mind, that’s how it happened.”
Asked if he did not know that according to German law, adults who are over 21 are liable to prosecution if they have a sexual relationship with young people under 16, if they take advantage of their lack of maturity or capacity for self-determination, the accused replied that there had been no sexual acts, “but only kisses because the girl wanted it that way”. The migrant further explained that the girl’s companions had also liked to have him as a boyfriend: “I suspect that there was a fight about me afterwards and that’s why things escalated.”
The resident further affirmed that he was not looking for sex: “For me as a Muslim, that would be out of the question. I would rather get married and start a family.” He admitted that he had punched a friend of the girl after the incident.
But he was not to blame for that either: “The other guy chased me and threatened me. When he tried to hit me, I just defended myself. The trained baker is particularly upset that a ” culprit ” photo of him has been circulating on the internet ever since. All attempts to find the author of the defamatory post against him have failed, the man complains. He has therefore filed a complaint against unknown persons.
Furthermore, the refugee stated that he had not felt comfortable in the city from the beginning. Why he had to come to Prenzlau, although he would have preferred a big city, he did not understand. People here are hostile towards foreigners and deliberately provoke strangers, according to his impression: “I don’t know why. I just want to build a new life here in peace.” According to police, the 24-year-old has already appeared as a suspect in various preliminary proceedings in the past. “However, some of these proceedings have not yet been legally concluded. Since we have to respect the personal rights of those involved in preliminary proceedings, we cannot give any further details about the offences for which the man has been or is being investigated and in how many cases,” said the Frankfurt/Oder police directorate when asked by the editorial office.