German Cannibal confesses all

Reuters ^ | 3 December, 2003 | David Crossland

[yonif]

KASSEL, Germany (Reuters) - A German man has confessed in court to killing and eating a willing victim, saying it had felt like a religious act to eat human flesh.

Offering a full account of the killing that has gained him worldwide notoriety as "The Cannibal of Rotenburg", Armin Meiwes said there were "hundreds, thousands" of people seeking to fulfil their desires to eat humans or be eaten via Internet adverts in forums called "Cannibal Cafe," "Guy Cannibals" and "Torturenet".

The trial of Meiwes, 42, started on Wednesday in the central German city of Kassel, in a case that has shocked Germany, exposed the dark side of the Internet and could make legal history.

Giving testimony so frank it drew gasps from the public gallery, Meiwes said he had buried the innards of the corpse and kept the skull and plastic bags of flesh in his freezer. He ate about 20 kg (44 pounds) of the flesh, defrosting it bit by bit.

"With every piece of flesh I ate I remembered him," Meiwes, self-assured and well-spoken, told the judge. "It was like taking communion."

Meiwes said his upbringing alone with a dominant mother had stoked his interest in cannibalism, making him long for a little brother he could make part of himself.

The gaunt, bespectacled computer repair man told of how he made contact online with the 43-year-old Berlin computer specialist identified only as Bernd-Juergen B..

He invited him to his elegant half-timbered home in Rotenburg near Kassel and killed him with a kitchen knife in a "slaughtering room" he had built containing meat hooks, a cage and a butcher's table.

"He told me he had had the desire since he was a child to be slaughtered and eaten," Meiwes said. "He was very intelligent and I didn't see any sign that he was disturbed." Meiwes filmed the killing and the video tape may be shown to the court.

The film shows Meiwes -- who has been described by his lawyer as a "gentleman of the old school" -- cutting off the victim's penis at the latter's request.

"It was important to him that his member be cut off and that he witness it," said Meiwes. "It gave him pleasure."

Ten hours after the dismemberment, the victim fell unconscious and Meiwes killed him with a knife. He then hung up the corpse and cut it up, filming the process.

"SOMEONE TO BE PART OF ME"

Prosecutors have charged Meiwes with murder after a psychiatrist declared him fit to stand trial. They are seeking a life sentence.

They acknowledge that the victim wanted to be killed but they believe he was incapable of rational thought.

Meiwes's lawyer has pleaded for him to be convicted of "killing on request", a form of illegal euthanasia which carries a far lower sentence of up to five years.

The problem, legal experts say, is that the charge of full murder is unlikely to stick given that the video film shows the victim to be willing. The case may go as far as the Federal Constitutional Court, Professor Arthur Kreuzer of the Institute for Criminology at Giessen University said this week.

Meiwes said he became obsessed with wanting a younger brother -- "someone to be part of me".

Using the pseudonym "Franky", he posted Internet ads which read: "If you are 18-25 you are my boy, Franky from Germany," or "Come to me I'll eat your delicious flesh."

Some 430 people responded to his e-mails within a year. He met five men face to face who didn't want to go as far as being slaughtered but who were ready to engage in role-playing games, he said.

[af_vet_1981]

They should execute him.

[kimmie7]

Okay, ew.

[randog]

They should execute him.

Fry him or microwave him?

;^)

[Diddle E. Squat]

I eat cannibal
Feed on animal
Your love is so edible to me
I eat cannibals

I eat cannibal
It's incredible
You bring out the animal in me
I eat cannibals

What can you do
You're in a stew
Hot hot cook it up
I'm never gonna stop
Fancy a bite
My appetite
Yum yum gee it's fun
Banging on a different drum

And I eat cannibal
Feed on animal
Your love is so edible to me
I eat cannibals

I eat cannibal
It's incredible
You bring out the animal in me
I eat cannibals

I like the spice
Tasty and nice
Roastin vitamin
Forget the dietin'
Mmm such a dish
I can't resist
Healthy recipe
What you got is good for me

And I eat cannibal
Feed on animal
Your love is so edible to me
I eat cannibals

I eat cannibal
It's incredible
You bring out the animal in me
I eat cannibals

All I wanna do
Make a meal of you
We are what we eat
You're my kind of meat

Got a hunger for your love
(Hot pot cook it up, I'm never gonna stop)
It's all I'm thinkin' of
(Yum yum gee it's fun, I'm banging on a drum)
Give the world a bone
(Roastin vitamin, forget the dietin')
I got steak at home
(I eat cannibals)

I eat cannibal
Feed on animal
Your love is so edible to me
I eat cannibals

I eat cannibal
It's incredible
You bring out the animal in me
I eat cannibals

Roastin', toastin', you're the one I'm boastin'
Eat me, eat you, incredibly delicious too
Gourmet, flambe, serve you up an entree
Intake, home bake, you're the icing on the cake

Eat me, eat you, incredibly delicious too
Gourmet, flambe, serve you up an entree
Intake, home bake, you're the icing on the cake
Full up, can't stop, dicing on a chop chop

[biblewonk]

It's Germany. He'll probably have to write on a chalk board 1000 times, I will not kill and eat my friends. Leaving out the obvious loophole of killing and eating his enemies which we'll be discussing next year.

[af_vet_1981]

Put him to sleep with drugs like they would a very sick animal.

[Veritas_est]

In my mind . . .

A man who would ask another person to kill and eat him is insane.

A man who would kill and cannibalize another person is insane.

But for society to allow this kind of insanity to continue to pollute society, is most insane.

[Billthedrill]

"He told me he had had the desire since he was a child to be slaughtered and eaten," Meiwes said. "He was very intelligent and I didn't see any sign that he was disturbed."

Whoa...OK...(backing slowly away)...the feller says he wants his willie whacked and then to end up in serving-sized portions next to the popsicles in the freezer...nothing abnormal there, nosiree...

[Captain Peter Blood]

This guy should be thrown into a pit with wild boars like in the movie "Hannibal" and let them eat him. The best punishment that could be meted out.

[mikrofon]

The film shows Meiwes -- who has been described by his lawyer as a "gentleman of the old school"

Yes, he would have enjoyed being around the "schoolyards" of Buchenwald and Oswiecim...

[mlbford2]

I kinda wandered over to the DU board and they had a poll on wether you think what two consensual cannibals do together is ok or not. A majority said it was wrong, but a surprisingly high number (35-40%) said it was acceptable behavior. That's scary.

[Servant of the 9]

What exactly does everyone want him punished for?

For eating something you find disgusting?
In that case, I'd like everyone who eats fish to be drowned.

For killing another?
The 'victim' wished to die at the hands of another. Why shouldn't his request be granted?

He may have endangered public health by improperly disposing of a corpse, but that is a trivial offense, hardly grounds for outrage.

So9

[VeritatisSplendor]

Just to go tangential here, don't you think movies like the "Hannibal" ones, that present murder for entertainment, can spur these freaks into action, and blur the morality of others like the DU folks, so that they think cannibalism is ok as long as it's between consenting adults?

Mrs VS

[WackyKat]

The victim got what he wanted. The cannibal got what he wanted. Both were consenting adults. No one else was involved. The cannibal did not kill those who responded to his ad but did not wish to actually be killed.A doctor examined him and found him sane.
Other than personal feelings of revulsion, I would like to hear why this should be considered murder

[Michael81Dus]

Under German Law, manslaughter is considered to be a murder if committed with the purpose to enable or hide another crime. In this case, the "other crime" is abuse of a corpse (by eating it). Another point is, that the cannibal did it to satisfy his sex urge, another reason for calling it a murder. He should and probably will live the next 15 years in prison.

[Michael81Dus]

Even though the victim wanted his own death, at the moment when the offender stabbed into the victims throat, the victim slept and before that, he was unconscious and/or mentally ill.

It´s murder. If I was wrong, and it´s not murder, the guy needs to be found guilty of "killing on demand" (up to 5 years prison). But I doubt that the victim seriously and conscious ordered his death.

[Oatka]

I'll give the Mass. courts about one year before they declare this a "consenting adults" matter and allow it.

[Consort]

More

[Bernard Marx]

This adds a whole new dimension to the phrase "bite me."