German teacher on trial for allegedly killing and eating a man he met on dating site
- The teacher allegedly cut up the victim, ate some body parts and dumped the rest in locations across Berlin
- Prosecutors say there was no evidence that the victim had ‘consented’ to his killing
The mathematics and chemistry teacher – identified in the German media simply as Stefan R under the nation’s strict privacy laws – is alleged to have killed a 43-year-old mechanic in his flat shortly after meeting him on a dating website last year.
He then allegedly cut up the victim, identified as Stefan T, and dumped the body parts at various locations across Berlin.
The suspect, who has until now declined to comment on the case, sat upright and motionless in the dock as his indictment was read out in a Berlin regional court.
His legal defence team told the court he would also not be commenting on the allegations at this time.
The prosecution plans to argue there was a “sadistic-cannibalistic sexual motivation for the crime” after the suspect allegedly ate parts of the corpse.
The victim’s flatmates reported him missing after he left their flat shortly before midnight in early September and never returned.
Two months after Stefan T went missing the bone of a human leg was found by passers-by walking a dog in a wooded area near a ditch in a Berlin suburb.
The discovery turned a missing person case into a murder investigation after forensic tests established the remains were of the missing technician.
Further bone parts were also discovered in the city after sniffer dogs were called in to help with the investigation.
Prosecutors say there was no evidence that the victim had “consented” to his killing.
Police alleged that internet searches revealed that the two men had met on a dating portal, and that Stefan R had been interested in cannibalism and had browsed cannibalism-linked forums.
Prosecutors also claimed that what they described as “relevant instruments” such as saws and knives had also been discovered in a search of Stefan R’s flat along with traces of blood and several kilograms of a chemical.
Teacher arrested in Berlin on suspicion of cannibalism
The Berlin murder trial comes about two decades after another chilling case in Germany which became known as the “Cannibal of Rotenburg”.
In this case, a computer technician from the western German town of Rotenburg was sentenced to life imprisonment after partially eating a man after he had advertised online for someone ready for “slaughter and consumption.”
About five years later, another Berlin man who told an internet forum he was looking for someone ready to “make himself available as a feast” went on trial for murder after he dismembered, but did not ultimately eat, his sexual partner.
