Two Syrians from Sonneberg allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl and indecently touched and insulted a 14-year-old girl during a Halloween party at the sports club TSV Elsa (Bad Rodach) on Monday night. This was reported by the Coburg public prosecutor’s office and the Upper Franconia police headquarters in a joint press release on Wednesday. The alleged perpetrators also attacked party guests with a baseball bat.
The first emergency services arrived at the sports centre, which is located outside the village, at around 2.30 a.m. The circumstances were initially unclear. At first, the situation was confusing because there were about 65 young guests in the hall, some of whom were wearing make-up and some of whom were more or less drunk. An eyewitness reported that it was hard to spot any injured people at first.
Michael Jeschor, deputy head of the Integrated Rescue Control Centre (ILS) in Ebersdorf, confirmed that a total of seven ambulances from Coburg, Lichtenfels and Hildburghausen as well as two emergency doctors were on duty in Elsa to treat injured people. They were taken to surrounding hospitals.
According to public prosecutor Christopher Rosenbusch and police spokesman Volker Püttner, the privately organised Halloween party with invited guests, at which the Corona rules were obeyed, had initially proceeded peacefully and without any particular incidents. One party guest, however, felt compelled to invite more friends on his own authority because of the good mood. Two young Syrians from Sonneberg, “who found their way to the party in this way, then sought physical proximity to the female partygoers,” according to the press release. First, a 17-year-old touched a 14-year-old in an “indecent and insulting” manner. A 16-year-old also did the same to a 13-year-old. “He grabbed her private parts, thereby crossing the threshold to the offence of sexual abuse,” the police and the public prosecutor’s office said.
This led to a “physical confrontation” in which young men attacked the guests with a baseball bat. “They really went on the rampage,” a police officer told our newspaper. According to the police, a total of eight people were injured. They were treated as outpatients and were able to leave the hospitals afterwards.
Despite the intervention of several patrols on the night of the crime, it was not possible to identify the exact perpetrators. After the entire group, which according to our newspaper included four Syrians and one German with a migration background, had been brought to the Coburg police station, the 16-year-old was arrested on charges of sexually abusing the 13-year-old. On Tuesday, at the request of the public prosecutor’s office, he was brought before the magistrate, who ordered him to be remanded in custody. The Coburg Criminal Investigation Department is now investigating. All those involved are accused of dangerous bodily harm, among other things.
Bad Rodach’s mayor Tobias Ehrlicher spoke of “deeply despicable behaviour”.