A girl disappears. After five years, he returns to his hometown of Freiburg, physically intact. The now 19-year-old tells her mother and the police how she traveled with a 39-year-old man through Europe and lived for two years on Sicily.

The man's name is Bernhard H. Against him issued an international arrest warrant, after six days he is arrested in the Sicilian coastal town Licata, extradited to Germany and charged with child abduction and sexual abuse.

Did Maria volunteer with him? Was she at his mercy? Was he threatening her, was he violent? How did she suddenly escape after five years?

Maria is now a young woman with shoulder-length hair and a childish face. In hall IV of the district court of Freiburg, she avoids eye contact with Bernhard H., a skilled carpenter and electrician from Blomberg in North Rhine-Westphalia. For five years he was her only caregiver. He is now 58 years old, a medium-sized man with a gray beard and bald head, wearing a dark blue hooded jacket and sweatpants.

Public excluded for Maria's statement

On the first day of the trial, he explained himself and his life. What he said about the accusations touched his private life and that of the victim. For the protection of personal rights, the 3rd Grand Criminal Court therefore excluded the public at the request of its defense lawyer Stephan Althaus during these statements. Bernhard H., married and father of a daughter, admitted to having been with Maria.

On the second day of the trial Maria is questioned, she is the most important witness. Her lawyer also requests the exclusion of the public. At 9.23 pm, presiding judge Arne Wiemann announces that it is about personal circumstances and private affairs of 19-year-olds whose discussion would violate legitimate interests and which would not be outweighed by the interest in public discussion. In addition, sexual acts and sexual contents of electronic communication between Maria and Bernhard H. would be discussed.

Basically a comprehensible decision of the chamber. Nevertheless, she seems strange in view of the fact that Maria H. already informed in interviews with RTL informative about her state of mind. She did not want to give Bernhard H. "the satisfaction of being torn up in front of him," she said in a conversation with the TV station. "I'll try to make it clear that this person is in the dock because he did that to me because he's guilty."

In the process, Maria appears as co-plaintiff, as does her mother. She and her lawyers therefore have the right to question witnesses and the defendant.

Flight over Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to Italy

Bernhard H's appearance is less disturbing on the second day of the trial than on the first: Once again he hides his face behind a gray file folder, but this time without sending a message. The postcard, on which two hands form a heart before a sunset, he has not stuck again on the blotter. He also avoids remarks like, "My arms will always be open to them."

Patrick Seeger / DPA

Bernhard H. on the first day of the trial: Heart Postcard on the folder

Messages that suggest Bernhard H. sees his time with Mary as a kind of relationship rather than abuse and kidnapping.

Prosecutor Nikola Novak is convinced that Bernhard H. already contacted Maria in April 2011 - via the Internet. He is said to have spent in a chat forum as a teenager and prompted her to sexual acts. Maria was then eleven years old, Bernhard H. 50. The two should have met secretly until the connection flew open.

The police held a so-called threat speech, a procedure was discontinued. In May 2013, the two fled together to Poland, across Slovakia and Hungary to Italy. To outsiders, they pretended to be father and daughter.

The prosecution accuses Bernhard H. of sexually abusing Maria in about a hundred cases, controlling her, dominating her and preventing her from having contact with other people and attending school. He should have wanted a child from the underage girl and carried out all sexual assaults unprotected. The prosecutor sees the conditions for preventive detention. A psychiatric expert will examine on behalf of the court, to what extent that comes into question.

The verdict in the case is expected by the end of June.