München – This act leaves you speechless – a young person is raped in a subway station. And nobody helps him. How could that happen?
The disgusting act happened on Saturday night at the Max-Weber-Platz underground station. The victim: a Polish language student (18). The alleged perpetrator: a man (20) from Afghanistan.
︎ After viewing the surveillance videos by Commissariat 15 (sexual offences), the exact period of time could now be narrowed down: “The crime happened between 2.35 a.m. and 3.05 a.m.,” says Derya Mirzaoglu from the Munich police headquarters. It had previously been assumed that the crime had dragged on for hours.
Why didn’t anyone stop the rape?
It can be assumed that the few passengers on the last subway left the platform at 2:27 a.m. – except for the language student from Poland and his rapist. It is unclear whether both came by subway or were already on the platform. That is still being determined.
At 2:27 a.m. on Saturday morning, the last subway stopped at Max-Weber-Platz. Victims and perpetrators were left alone on the platform
According to the police, the 18-year-old came from a party and was heavily intoxicated, possibly lying down on one of the benches on the platform to sleep. The perpetrator must have taken advantage of this situation.
It is also unclear whether the act would have been immediately perceived as rape by potential witnesses.
Why couldn’t video surveillance prevent the crime?
The 100 subway stations in Munich are all under video surveillance. However: “The camera images are also switched live around the clock and randomly switched in the control center – with over 1700 cameras in 100 underground stations, not every camera is continuously monitored by an employee,” explains the Munich transport company when asked by BILD .
“Of course, all cameras record their images and are read out when a criminal offense is reported.”
According to the Munich Transport Authority (MVG), the last subway (U4 towards Arabellapark) stopped at 2:27 a.m. at Max-Weber-Platz. At 3.10 a.m. the roller gates to the platform were lowered so that the cleaning crews could do their work.
The alleged perpetrator is in custody
The 18-year-old reported to the police on Sunday. The suspect also stole his cell phone. The victim was able to locate the smartphone, alerted the police. The suspect was arrested by the police in a shelter for refugees in Munich’s Ramersdorf district. He was brought before the magistrate who sent him to custody.