It is probably a prime example of a criminal case that could be exploited for populist purposes if one wanted to: Three North African asylum seekers rob a 50-year-old Swiss woman on a train journey in an Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) dining car. One of the perpetrators also rapes the victim.
When the stolen mobile phone later turns up at the home of an asylum seeker, the suspects can be found. One of the main suspects was arrested eight months after the crime. He does not confess and does not make any statements on the matter in court.
It was March 20, 2020, at about 10.15 p.m.: A lady of about 50 years of age, who holds a senior professional position, was working on her laptop in the dining car of a moving train. She was slightly intoxicated. It was at the beginning of the first shutdown of the incipient pandemic. The dining car was unattended and otherwise empty.
About 10 minutes before the train entered Zurich main station, a young man suddenly sat down at the woman’s table and asked her why he could not order anything to drink here. At the same time, the woman was surprised from behind by a second man who allegedly kissed her abruptly on the mouth.
The woman was startled and reflexively stood up. According to the indictment, a third man pushed her head down at that moment and stole a gold chain worth 2,000 Swiss francs that she was wearing around her neck. One of the men then allegedly pulled down the woman’s trousers and raped her from behind while standing for a few seconds without using a condom.
In addition to the necklace, the perpetrators also took the victim’s mobile phone, laptop and wallet. There were no surveillance cameras in the train car. However, the three men were filmed after getting off the train on the platform at Zurich main station. The woman initially refrained from pressing charges.
The Moroccan, now 23 years old, was arrested in November 2020. Juvenile proceedings are underway against his two alleged accomplices – both Algerian asylum seekers who were only 16 and 17 years old at the time of the crime. One could not be located and is a fugitive, the other will be tried in a non-public juvenile court. Before the Zurich District Court, the main accused only says in Arabic, translated by the interpreter, “I didn’t do that.” He knew nothing and had seen nothing. He refuses to answer any questions.
The prosecutor is asking for a prison sentence of 66 months for rape and robbery and a ban from the country for 13 years. The man has several previous convictions. The Zurich sentence must be handed down as an additional sentence to a sentence handed down in the canton of Neuchâtel in November 2020 of 18 months’ imprisonment for commercial theft and other offences. A relevant previous conviction from France, where the Moroccan was convicted of rape, is of particular importance.
During his first interrogation, the man admitted to having had sexual intercourse with an elderly lady on the train. However, this had been consensual. The woman, who was a stranger to him, had asked him to have sex. Afterwards, the accused remained silent during the further investigation.
The victim was not able to identify the perpetrator and, according to the prosecutor, had initially named an uninvolved third party as the perpetrator, against whom, however, the criminal proceedings had to be discontinued. However, this was not relevant because of the accused’s earlier statements. The woman had been taken by surprise and had not been able to attribute individual contributions to the crime to the individual perpetrators.
The victim had also had great difficulty in talking about the incident during the investigation, was severely traumatised and had had to undergo psychiatric treatment. The woman, who wants to bring the case to an end, has also waived her right to be a private plaintiff.
The defence lawyer demands an acquittal and argues that his client was the victim of mistaken identity. The statements made during the custodial interrogation do not correspond to the truth. What the motive for the false statements should have been, however, is still not clear to him. The victim had identified the two accomplices, but had not recognised the Moroccan in a line-up. The crime had probably only been committed by two men, and his client had not been in the dining car at all. He had no knowledge of the perpetrator and many of his statements did not match those of the victim. Presumably, he had simply repeated something he had been told during the first interrogation.
The court nevertheless sentences the accused according to the indictment and imposes an additional sentence of 68 months. A 13-year ban on entering the country is also ordered. The panel of judges believes the victim’s “absolutely convincing and true-to-life statements”. The question of whether the accused had lied during his interrogation is clearly answered in the negative by the court. The man had given very detailed information about the course of events over many questions and many inquiries. And if he had indeed lied at the time, a comprehensible explanation would have been required.
The fact that the victim had not been able to attribute the rape to a specific person was understandable and even self-evident. The lady had been working on her laptop on the train and had been completely surprised and taken by surprise. The perpetrators had also taken advantage of her slight alcoholism. It was plausible that she had not been able to say who had done what in the hectic rush. Because she was completely surprised and the perpetrators outnumbered her, she could no longer be expected to defend herself. The accused’s actions on public transport were completely unscrupulous, shameless and truly reprehensible.
https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/zuerich-vergewaltigung-auf-zugfahrt-in-speisewagen-der-sbb-ld.1654802