A Syrian is on trial for sexually assaulting two female patients inside the Eppendorf Univeristy Clinic (UKE) in Germany, with one of the women allegedly assaulted after she had just had her leg amputated.
The Syrian, 43-year-old Zakwan A., appeared in district court in Hamburg-Mitte, where his trial began on Tuesday. The migrant worked in food services, but police say he targeted two women, one aged 52 and the other 53, who were being cared for at the hospital.
The 52-year-old Yvonne R. testified that her operation had gone well, but afterward, when she could hardly move, she said that Zakwan A. came to her bed and molested her.
“I was paralyzed. I couldn’t react because I was so shocked,” she said.
She said when he tried to kiss her, all she could do was turn her head to the side. At that time, he slipped his hand between her bandaged thighs.
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She said that she still feels the hands of the accused on her body to this day. Yvonne R. had suffered the trauma of sexual abuse when she was younger and was overcome psychologically despite years of therapy. As a result, she was unable to speak to anyone immediately after the incident, with nurses believing she had suffered a stroke initially.
“My client initially defended himself in silence,” said the defense attorney of the Syrian. Essentially, the trial is relying on the witness testimony of the two women.
Yvonne R. said the incident was so shocking, that she still suffers from speech disorders and rarely leaves her apartment due to living in a state of fear.
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“I had just rebuilt my life, and now I’m completely thrown back,” she said.
The other patient, Ulrike H., who police say was sexually assaulted when her leg was freshly amputated, is scheduled to testify against the Syrian next week.
Yvonne R. had written to Ulrike H. about what had happened to her on WhatsApp, and Yvonne R. said the woman began crying.
“She started crying and said: ‘If I had been braver, you would have been spared this.'” Apparently, Ulrike H. was also sexually abused by the same man but said nothing about it.
Last year, an Iraqi national was arrested for raping a 90-year-old woman confined to a wheelchair when she appeared in the emergency room of a local hospital in Saxony.
A similar case happened in France in 2018, with a 50-year-old Algerian male nurse drugging and raping a patient in the American Hospital of Neuilly-sur-Seine.
