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Münster (dpa) - The regional court of Münster has sentenced a 45-year-old man from Berlin to a prison sentence of five years and three months for the three-fold serious sexual abuse of a child.
In addition, according to a spokesman, the regional court saw it as proven that the man had owned child pornography in three cases.
In order to mitigate the sentence, the judges judged that the man with no previous conviction and second residence in Magdeburg had made a confession and thus spared the victim a testimony.
The public prosecutor's office had advocated a prison sentence of six years and nine months, the defense attorney for a sentence not exceeding five years.
The trial in connection with the abuse complex in Münster took place largely in camera to protect the victims.
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The victim is said to be an eleven-year-old boy from Münster who, according to the investigators, had repeatedly been the victim of serious sexual abuse in the complex.
According to the indictment, the crime scenes in this case were in Hanover in June 2019 and in Münster in August and December 2019.
The boy's stepfather was present at the time of the abuse.
By May 7th, the Münster Regional Court had set five further appointments in this subsidiary proceeding.
After the confession, these trial days are no longer necessary.
A verdict is expected in the spring in the main trial against the boy's 27-year-old stepfather, his mother and other men.
After the processes in the abuse complex in Münster, which have ended so far, only one decision is final.
A man from Norderstedt (Schleswig-Holstein) was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.
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In the case of further decisions, the convicts or the public prosecutor's office appealed.
In the case of a student from Aachen sentenced to nine years in prison, the Federal Court of Justice must now clarify whether subsequent preventive detention will be ordered, as requested by the prosecution.
Alongside Lügde and Bergisch Gladbach, Münster is one of three large crime complexes in North Rhine-Westphalia that have been uncovered since 2019.
It is about sexual violence against a large number of children and about large networks with numerous participants and victims.
There are over 40 suspects in the complex, around 30 of whom are in custody.
About 30 children are said to have been victims.
The verdicts are expected in spring in the main trial before the Münster Regional Court.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210409-99-140824 / 3