Erfurt, Germany,Oct 15, (dpa) – A German man with no medical training who carried out castrations on the living room couch of his home in the central German city of Erfurt was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison on Tuesday.
The 75-year-old defendant, a machine operator by profession, was convicted of seven counts of grievous bodily harm and a further count of bodily harm, with the allegations dating back to 2015.
The victims in the case had paid the defendant money to castrate them. Several testified in court, and the defendant acknowledged having performed the gruesome procedures.
The defendant also removed toes and a penis at his clients’ request.
“It was an extraordinary trial, it was also a trial tainted with shame,” presiding judge Udo Tietjen said on Tuesday.
“What we definitely want to achieve with this sentence, is to prevent others from following suit,” Tietjen added.
The judge noted that the victims found it difficult to speak in court.
The public was excluded from much of the trial.
The verdict is not yet final, and may be appealed.
Explaining the verdict, the judge noted that that the persons concerned had approached the man themselves, and asked for the respective procedures.
They were interested, for example, in the first step of a gender-reassignment operation, or in combating pain in the genital area.
Most of the victims had stated that they were not interested in punishing the defendant.
The defendant for his part, claimed he had wanted to help the patients, he said. Money had only played a minor role in the amputations. The court expressed doubts about this, however.
GNA