A mother and her 14-year-old daughter are challenging prosecutors’ decision to close an investigation into an alleged gang rape at a youth center in Lower Saxony.
The girl, identified under the changed name Frida, says three boys sexually assaulted her last summer in an upstairs room at the center in Gnarrenburg. The boys were reportedly aged 15, 16 and 18 at the time.
As reported by Bild, one of them allegedly filmed the incident without her knowledge, and the footage was later widely circulated. Frida’s family says she has since withdrawn socially and voluntarily repeated the ninth grade.
Prosecutors closed the investigation after concluding that it could not prove a criminal offense with the certainty required to bring charges, suggesting that her refusal to the sexual intercourse was not obvious enough.
However, the family’s lawyer has appealed the decision, arguing that prosecutors failed to properly account for the vulnerability of a young victim and the possibility that Frida froze in fear rather than actively resisting.
Frida said she did not scream or cry during the incident because she had mentally shut down.
“I was just scared, scared, scared,” she later told her mother.
Prosecutors reportedly argued that the girl’s rejection of the sexual activity would have needed to be recognizable to an objective observer, such as through crying, verbal refusal, or physical resistance.
The family’s lawyer disputes that assessment, pointing to research showing that some sexual assault victims experience an involuntary freezing or shock response.
Welt reported how the case became public in March of this year after the victim’s mother saw a video on her daughter’s mobile phone showing her being held down by the gang. When the mother questioned the youth center leaders, they told her that the boys had locked the door to the room where the incident occurred, blocked the entrance with a pool table, and played loud music.
Prosecutors said it could not be ruled out that the barricade had been intended to keep other people from entering rather than to prevent Frida from escaping. They also noted that the girl still had access to her phone.
The authorities must now decide whether the investigation should be reopened and whether charges should be brought.
One of the boys later reportedly apologized for his involvement and claimed in a private message that the other two had pressured him into participating.
“I swear on the Quran: I was threatened to do this,” he allegedly wrote, adding that he intended to report the other boys himself.
The case has taken on further significance after police confirmed a separate rape investigation involving another 14-year-old girl and a 17-year-old suspect.
The suspect is reportedly the same boy described as the leader of the group in Frida’s case. The second alleged offense reportedly occurred on July 10, around four weeks after the earlier investigation was closed.
Remix News reported last month how the share of foreigners involved in gang rapes across Germany hit a record high last year, reaching 53 percent. A total of 751 victims were gang-raped in the country, according to government data released in response to a parliamentary request by the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
