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Diasporia News of Tuesday, 17 October 2017

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Ghanaian asylum seeker charged with rape in Germany

A Ghanaian asylum seeker in Germany has been branded a danger to society after he allegedly raped a 23-year-old German woman in front of her boyfriend during a camping trip in April.

A psychiatrist expert, Dr. Wolfgang Schwachula at Bonn in Germany during the trial of Eric X (the Ghanaian asylum seeker) in court said Eric is a danger to society and likely to strike again because he lacks empathy.

On April 2 midnight, Eric X launched an attack on the couple when they were sleeping by cutting through the tarpaulin and threatening them with a tree saw ordering them to hand over their valuables- six euros (£5.35) and a music box.

After robbing them, he dragged the 23-year-old woman outside, where he raped her and forced her boyfriend to watch. The boyfriend’s initial call to the police about the incident was considered a joke.

The suspect was later arrested in Siegburg after a man recognised him from a composite picture of the sex attacker.

Dr. Wolfgang Schwachula testified in court and shared his observations about the failed Ghanaian asylum seeker he examined before the start of the trial and observed throughout the court case.

According to him, Eric X is fully criminally liable despite a combined personal disorder of emotional instability and narcissism for which he is not capable of empathy and abuses others for his purposes, therefore, putting his risk of re-offending at between 40 to 60 percent.

Eric X appeared in court with both hands and feet chained due to his extremely aggressive behaviour. He made several accusations against the victim and the prosecution and when the DNA analyst explained to the court that the saliva sample taken from him matched the sperm found in the genital area of the victim, he dismissed the evidence saying “That cannot be, how does my DNA come to the woman?”

On a separate occasion during the trial, he said out loud in court: “If the girl claims she has been raped, she must be a prostitute. All who help her in the lie are filthy people”.

Both victims are currently undergoing psychological care as they are still heavily traumatised.

Following his arrest, it emerged that the Eric X had been served notice by the German authorities ten days before the attack, informing him he would face deportation to Italy as his asylum application had been rejected.

He arrived in Italy in January and his asylum application was immediately rejected but by then he had made the journey to Kassel in Germany.

The suspect lived for a time in asylum seeker housing accommodation in the town of Sankt Augustin, near Bonn.
However, local media have questioned why he was not immediately deported.

Eric X. has been charged with aggravated rape and predatory blackmail.