German Court Sentences Pediatrician to Nearly 13 Years in Prison

A German court has sentenced a former pediatrician to 12 years and nine months in prison after he admitted sexually abusing a total of 21 children, with the court also ordering subsequent preventive detention and a lifetime professional ban.

The 44-year-old man had previously been convicted by the Augsburg Regional Court after sexually abusing a five-year-old boy in the Garbsen area near Hanover in August 2014.

Why Was the Trial Reopened?

The Augsburg court had originally sentenced the pediatrician to 13 years and six months in prison, along with subsequent preventive detention and a professional ban. However, the case had to be tried again after Germany’s Federal Court of Justice overturned the original ruling in February 2017.

During the proceedings, the pediatrician admitted to all of the charges against him, according to reports about the case.

The investigation found that he had repeatedly approached children in Augsburg and Munich, including children he encountered on streets and at playgrounds. He would reportedly promise to play with them before taking them into nearby buildings, where he sexually abused them.

The Most Serious Offense Involved a Five-Year-Old Boy

The most serious incident took place in August 2014 in the Hanover region of Germany, when the man was working at a medical school.

According to the case, he abducted a five-year-old boy and took him to his apartment in Hanover, where he drugged and sexually abused the child. The boy subsequently became dizzy and suffered temporary paralysis.

The case has drawn attention because of the number of children involved and the severity of the offenses, while the court’s decision also includes preventive detention after the prison sentence and a lifetime ban from working in his profession.