https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12481649/Childrens-home-horror-girl-ten-raped-murdered-German-police-believe-burglar-25-committed-sex-attack-boy-11-later-killed-argument.htmlChildren's care home horror in Germany as girl, ten, is raped 'by adult burglar then murdered in separate attack by boy, 11, also living at facility'
Victim found dead in her room at child and youth welfare facility in Wunsiedel
Police believe burglar, 25, raped girl before she was killed by 11-year-old boy
By Rachael Bunyan
Updated: 14:04, 5 September 2023
German police fear a ten-year-old girl killed in a care home was raped by a burglar shortly before being murdered in a separate attack by an 11-year-old boy who was living at the same facility. The victim, identified only as Lena, was found dead in her room at a child and youth welfare facility in Wunsiedel, in Germany's Bavaria region, on April 4 and police suspected the 11-year-old boy of being involved in her death. But now it has emerged that a 25-year-old German man, who has been identified only as Daniel T and is said to be a garbage collector, allegedly entered the child welfare facility through an open bathroom window on the night the victim was killed. The suspect, who lives locally, was allegedly trying to steal from the children's home when he came across the 11-year-old boy and ten-year-old girl. Police suspect the burglar sexually assaulted the victim before leaving the facility, reports Onetz. On that same night, prosecutors now say the 11-year-old boy, who was the girl's roommate, got into an argument with the victim and murdered her. They do not believe Daniel T was involved in her killing. With regard to the killing of the girl, the investigators and the public prosecutor's office assume that the 11-year-old boy killed her without the 25-year-old's involvement,' Matthias Goers, of the Hof public prosecutor's office, said.
The boy is not yet at the age of criminal responsibility, which is 14, so has been kept in a secure facility since April. It is not yet clear how the girl died, but police say she suffered a 'violent' death. The children had been one of a few children left at the home at the time of the murder because most of the other youngsters living there were on a skiing holiday, reports Bild. Last month, prosecutors brought charges against the 25-year-old man for rape, burglary and arson. He is suspected of committing five burglaries between 2022 and 2023 and stealing construction machinery worth £13,700 (16,000 euros) from containers, which he set on fire to try to remove evidence. At the time of the girl's murder, the child and youth welfare centre in the small town of Wunsiedel, home to around 90 children and teenagers, said it was 'deeply shocked' by her death. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the parents, the family, our children and our colleagues,' it said in a statement.
On its website, the institute describes itself as supporting 'young people and their families who need help with their upbringing'.
Her brutal murder came just a month after the killing of 12-year-old Luise Frisch, who was found dead in the western town of Freudenberg in March after suffering multiple stab wounds. Her killers, named as Luisa Halberstadt, 13, and Anna-Marie Hoffman, 12, stabbed their victim 32 times with a nail file before pushing her down a steep embankment in nearby woods. The classmates also put a plastic bag over Luise's head before one chillingly told the other to 'hit her with a stone or she would be lying next to her'.
The pair confessed to the crime but will avoid punishment as they are too young to bear criminal responsibility in Germany. Police fear Luise may have been alive before she was thrown down the embankment and died from her injuries and the sub-zero conditions that hit the area in early March.
