Skip to main content.
Religion News Blog is a non-profit service providing academics, religion professionals and other researchers with religion & cult news
ReligionNewsBlog

Religion news articles about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues

Navigation:
A Random Image
Cannibalism:

Defendant part of big cannibal scene, detective tells court

The Guardian, UK
Dec. 9, 2003
Luke Harding in Berlin
www.guardian.co.uk

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 5349 • Posted: Tuesday December 9, 2003  

  • Google Bookmarks
  • Google Reader
  • Gmail
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • Blogger Post
  • Evernote
  • Facebook
  • Share/Bookmark
Click here... More articles on this topic: Cannibalism

The detective who investigated Germany’s infamous cannibal case told a court yesterday that he had stumbled upon a vast cannibal scene in Germany – involving several dentists and other professionals.

Giving evidence in the trial of Armin Meiwes, the 42-year-old computer expert who killed and ate another man, federal investigator Wilfried Fehl yesterday said the gruesome case was not an isolated one.

His officers had discovered a flourishing cannibal scene in Germany, he said, involving middle-class professionals, as well as manual workers. “We are talking about dentists, teachers, cooks, government officials and handymen,” he told the court, during the second day of Mr Meiwes’ trial for murder.

He added: “These are people who come from the middle reaches of society.”

Mr Fehl said that despite their endeavours German detectives had not been yet able to track down any more cannibal victims, following the arrest of Mr Meiwes last December. Mr Meiwes’s act was “a thing” that was “practically unimaginable” even for “experienced criminologists” like him, he admitted.

“It leads us to where thinking stops,” he said. Earlier, the court heard how on March 10, 2001 the computer expert stabbed, fried and then digested Bernd Brandes, a 43-year-old Berlin engineer he met through the internet. Mr Brandes travelled by train to Mr Meiwes’ rambling timbered farmhouse in the German town of Rotenburg after answering an advert requesting “people for slaughter”.

Before the killing, he agreed to have his penis cut off – which both men tried to eat.

Yesterday a relaxed, smiling Mr Meiwes said that it was wrong to describe his crime as murder because his victim had agreed to be killed.

He was merely guilty of “mercy killing” or “assisted suicide”, he said, adding: “I accept this is taboo. But I can justify what I did to God and the world.”

The computer expert said his biggest regret was that he hadn’t got to know his victim better before stabbing him to death in the early hours of the morning. “I didn’t want to kill or hurt anybody,” he said.

Following his arrest, detectives discovered an email from Mr Meiwes to a friend, in which he confessed he hoped to find another “victim” soon – because “flesh is everything.”

A detective who interviewed Mr Meiwes after he was caught said he appeared to have few regrets. He was even proud of his crime.

The detective added: “He was happy to be able to tell someone his story.” Yesterday, the judge hearing the case ordered the press and public to leave court so that a gruesome video made by Mr Meiwes of the killing could be shown. The video, lasting four and a half hours, showed the mutilation, death and slaughter of the victim, the judge Volker Mütze explained, as well as a sexual offence. Finishing his testimony yesterday, Mr Meiwes pointed out that after stabbing Mr Brandes he hadn’t killed anybody else. He added, however: “I would have done, though, if the opportunity had presented itself.”

The trial continues.

  • Google Bookmarks
  • Google Reader
  • Gmail
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • Blogger Post
  • Evernote
  • Facebook
  • Share/Bookmark


What You Can Do From Here

Read More Articles On These Topics
more cult news articlemore religion news Categories: Cannibalism
more religion news aboutmore Religion News Blog articles about
Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article
Subscribe
Follow Religion News Blog on Twitter


Read Another Article
Find Related Information
cult research search enginecountercult information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults
Find Related Books


Most Popular Today


Share This Article

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:





Counter Cult Search

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.


Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.


Apologetics Search

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.


Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

About Religion News Blog
Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, alternative religions and related issues. RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.

Home
Latest Headlines
RSS news feed [?]
Headlines by Email
News Trackers
Free content for your site
About RNB
Privacy Policy
Contact RNB
Link to RNB
Advertise on RNB
Apologetics Index
Cult FAQ
Apologetics Search Engine
CounterCult Search Engine