The soccer player Jérôme Boateng has made his decision: he is silent.
He said nothing when the Munich I Regional Court considered it proven that Boateng attacked his daughters' mother one evening in July 2018.
That he pulled her hair.
That he bit her in the head.
That he spat in her face.
That he hit her when she was already on the ground.
Boateng as a perpetrator without insight
The verdict: 120 daily rates of 10,000 euros each, 1.2 million euros.
If it were to become final, Boateng would have a criminal record.
It speaks for the mistakes in the football system that its perpetrators do not speak with insight, but let money do the talking.
They pay consultants and lawyers who are supposed to silence the women – sometimes you have to say the victims – with non-disclosure clauses.
They play with fear.
And associations and clubs?
Do and say nothing.
This is how a system came about that tells its stars that they can get away with it.
In Munich, Boateng's bodyguards filmed a witness in front of the court, who then said that she was afraid.
That seems to be how this system sees itself: that you can't even feel safe in court.