PASSERS-BY THOUGHT GIRL ASSAULT VICTIM WAS ``HAVING FUN''

DeutschePresse via Bloomberg, no url | 8/5/3

[NativeNewYorker]

Heide, Germany (dpa) - A court in Germany Tuesday heard how

passersby thought a 14-year-old schoolgirl who was being sexually

assaulted on a public street was ''having fun'' - so they failed to

render assistance or notify police. 

   On the first day of proceedings in the case which has grabbed

headlines throughout Germany, four passersby testified that they were

not concerned by the teen's screams for help as she was accosted by a

19-year-old youth in the open-air pedestrian-mall shopping district of

the town of Heide on a mild evening in May. 

   ''We just thought it was a couple of drunken teenagers getting a

little carried away with their snogging,'' said one young woman who,

along with her twin sister, witnessed the incident. 

   ''We thought they were just having fun,'' she said.

   The 19-year-old ethnic Russian defendant admitted in the first day

of proceedings Tuesday that he had assaulted the girl. 

   Attributing his actions to inebriation, he denied any intent

however to rape his victim. He said he was too drunk to remember why

he refused to release the girl despite her struggling cries for help. 

   Authorities say passersby who witnessed the sexual assault could

face stiff fines and up to a year in prison for failing to notify

police - while the assailant may go free because he was drunk. 

   Investigators in the case, which has made headlines throughout

Germany, said they have identified eight persons who strolled past the

scene of the alleged attack in the shopping district of the town of

Heide in northern Germany one evening in May. 

   Those eight now face possible charges of failure to offer

assistance, police said. 

   If convicted, the onlookers could face fines ranging up to 1,000

dollars and up to a year in prison. 

   However, lawyers for the 19-year-old alleged assailant argue that

he was not responsible for his actions because he was drunk. 

   The attack comes amid a national debate over Germany's long

tradition of legal lenience towards intoxicated law-breakers. Under

German law, an offender who can prove that he was legally drunk at the

time of his offence qualifies for a far more lenient sentence than if

he were sober.

[steveo]

getting a little carried away with their snogging,

so that's what they call it.

[Bikers4Bush]

The threat of cameras on every street corner.

Walk away and be charged later.

[princess leah]

Ok, so those who did nothing will face stiff fines and possibly prison, but the louse who committed the crime might go free because he was drunk? What is that? Another example of German incompetency!

[Sloth]

If convicted, the onlookers could face fines ranging up to 1,000 dollars and up to a year in prison.

However, lawyers for the 19-year-old alleged assailant argue that he was not responsible for his actions because he was drunk.

Well, that seems perfectly sensible. But I wonder if the passersby can't claim to have been drinking, too. And technically, if she wasn't drunk, the rape victim should be the one prosecuted for failing to stop the attack.

[Born Conservative]

''We just thought it was a couple of drunken teenagers getting a little carried away with their snogging,''

Is snogging the same as boffing?

[LibertyGirl77]

"Authorities say passersby who witnessed the sexual assault could

face stiff fines and up to a year in prison for failing to notify

police - while the assailant may go free because he was drunk."

Wow. They really handle the "law" differently on that side of the pond, don't they?

[StriperSniper]

Is snogging the same as boffing?

Not quite, snogging is pre-boffing. ;-)

[Roughneck]

Another example of German incompetency. . .

And immorality I'd say.

I mean, this happened in a very public place, yet folks thought they were just having fun? Do they have sex the streets there so much that this is something casually overlooked?

[Born Conservative]

Allll-righty then. Thanks for clearing that up!

[StriperSniper]

Do they have sex the streets there so much that this is something casually overlooked?

I'll go and do some research and let you know. ;-)

Seriously, from the way it sounds, the laws there encourage everyone to be blind so as not to be a witness or get involved.

[Gritty]

lawyers for the 19-year-old alleged assailant argue that he was not responsible for his actions because he was drunk

This is the oldest excuse in the book. What college student the next morning has never fallen back on this one?

On the other hand, most of them never had lawyers to make it for them!

[DTA]

>>>>>Another example of German incompetency. . . And immorality I'd say. I mean, this happened in a very public place, yet folks thought they were just having fun? <<<<

Yeah, Ze Krauts are immoral...

[DTA]

Helping of all types is a central tenet of Christianity, and many argue it the central doctrine of the Christian faith.

Bystander apathy kills.

[KantianBurke]

I'll take US system of Justice thank you very much. Save the sermons for Sunday mornings.

[Question_Assumptions]

A friend who was in the Marines wound up surrounded by Japanese police when they discovered that the nice wooded area in the middle of Tokyo that they had decided to stop at and the wall that they were peeing on was the Imperial Palace. After assuring the police that no political gesture was intended, they apparently received a police escourt out of Tokyo towards their base.

[vin-one]

Hey, PL, if the passerbys, can prove they were drunk will they get off scott free as well.

[BA63]

I am not sure if I would stop and help in Germany either.

Scenario: You see this happening, you take it serious and you jump on the guy acosting this young woman. His idiotic rage then turns towards you. You defend yourself (defending the girl) you lay 4 across his nose, he trips and hits the back of his head on the edge of a concrete euro enviro-wacko planter box. He claims permanent injuries, your arrested and sued, you wind up paying him for the rest of your life. - Give me the $1000 fine anyday

Now if your in America, have a CCP, you can eliminate cross examination!