A morbid love affair instead of criminal stalking: a 79-year-old woman who has been stalking a pastor from Sauerland for around 20 years has been acquitted because she is considered innocent.
The Arnsberg district court overturned a nine-month suspended sentence against the senior citizen in the appeal proceedings on Wednesday, which the Meschede district court had imposed in 2019 because the first-instance judges still considered her to be capable of understanding.
As the 67-year-old Catholic priest described on the witness stand, the accused had met him more than 20 years ago in the small town of Meschede-Freienohl and from then on stalked and harassed him.
At times she called him daily, gave obscene gifts, decorated his car with love messages, or performed nude dances in front of the vicarage.
Again and again she has decorated his garden with phallic symbols, such as carrots with attached balloons.
To this day, she lurks for him regularly.
Years of terror have had a significant impact on his quality of life and have long since caused health problems.
For years he has tried in vain to stop them with a large number of criminal charges and lawsuits.
The chamber deeply regrets the pastor's situation.
The presiding judge emphasized in his verdict that the facts of the reenactment were fulfilled.
"But if you don't act responsibly, you can't be punished for it." However, the high hurdles for placement in a psychiatric ward have not been met - also because her delusion relates exclusively to the pastor.
According to the psychiatric expert, the woman suffers from a "classic love mania" that does not allow her to control her behavior.
The psychiatrist Norbert Leygraf from the University of Münster explained that she was convinced that she had found her "soul twin", who, as a Catholic priest, just couldn't show his affection for her.
In addition, brain damage affects their impulse control.
The acquittal is not yet final.