Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – In the Düsseldorf trial about forced prostitution with the loverboy scam, the district court acquitted all three defendants. The judges also awarded two of them compensation for their pre-trial detention. In view of the evidence, the prosecutor and the defense attorneys had demanded acquittal.
The public prosecutor’s office accused the 30 to 35-year-old men from Remscheid and Düsseldorf of forced prostitution, pimping, rape and physical harm. They had protested their innocence.
The presiding judge said none of the allegations could be proven beyond a doubt in the process. Objective evidence was missing and the victim got caught up in contradictions.
The 24-year-old went to the police in December 2018 and got the process rolling. She was offered by the trio as a 20-year-old to suitors via a relevant online portal. The trio organized the meetings and collected the love wages.
The judge now emphasized that none of this could be proven. Not even the allegation that the 30-year-old main defendant made the woman docile by threatening to inform her conservative parents about her job as a prostitute otherwise.
