柏林——本來,要是這位母親知道自己年幼的兒子遭到強奸卻放任不管,這起案子就是會引起公憤的。
But when Germans heard that she and her boyfriend had raped the boy themselves and served him up to pedophiles on the dark web, the fury only grew.
但當德國人聽說她和男朋友就是強奸這名男孩的人,并且讓他為暗網上的戀童癖服務時,公眾更是怒上加怒。
The mother and her companion — identified only as Berrin T., 48, and Christian L., 39, in keeping with German privacy laws — were convicted on Tuesday of sexually abusing her son over the course of two years, beginning when he was about 7. The abuse included inappropriate touching, rape and making videos that were placed as advertisements on the dark web for pedophiles — among them a German soldier — who paid the couple thousands of dollars to abuse the boy.
按照德國的隱私法,這名母親及其伴侶的身份僅被公開為48歲的貝林·T(Berrin T.)和39歲的克里斯蒂安·L(Christian L.)。周二,兩人被判對這名女性的兒子實施性侵罪名成立,時間長達兩年,從男孩約7歲時就開始了。侵犯行為包括不適當的觸摸、強奸和拍攝在暗網上用作面向戀童癖廣告的視頻,這些戀童癖中還有一名德國士兵。他們向這對情侶支付了數以千計美元,來侵犯這名男孩。
For many Germans, the most horrific part of a horrific case was the woman’s complicity, which violated deeply held assumptions about motherhood and contradicted the common image of sexual predators as male. But the case also shocked the country for the severity of the abuse and the failure of authorities to protect the child, despite repeated opportunities for intervention.
對許多德國人來說,這個駭人聽聞的案件最可怕之處在于,這名女子也是同謀,這有違人們對母性根深蒂固的假設,并且與性侵者通常為男性的形象相左。但這個案子之所以讓舉國震驚,還因為其中性侵的嚴重程度,以及盡管有過多次干預的機會,當局仍未能保護好這名兒童。
Interest groups and politicians called for an investigation and for better training of social workers and judges in recognizing potential sexual abuse of children. Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, Germany’s independent commissioner for questions pertaining to sexual abuse of children, called for an inquiry to determine what signals may have been missed.
利益團體和政治人士呼吁進行調查,并且要求對社工及法官在識別出兒童可能受到性侵方面進行更好的培訓。德國負責兒童性侵問題的獨立專員約翰-威廉·勒里希(Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig)呼吁展開調查,以找出人們可能錯過了哪些信號。
“There were obviously structural problems in cooperation between the courts and authorities that must now be thoroughly investigated,” Mr. Rörig said. “The case in Staufen has exposed an array of misjudgments and failures. We owe it to this child to draw the right consequences.”
“法院和當局的合作中很明顯存在結構性問題,現在必須徹底調查,”勒里希表示。“施陶芬發(fā)生的這個案子暴露了一系列誤判和不足。我們需要得出公正的結果,這是我們欠這個孩子的。”
The pair, who lived in Staufen, in southwestern Germany, were arrested in September 2017. They were found guilty on Tuesday of 40 charges of aggravated sexual assault, including rape, forced prostitution, distribution of child pornography and child endangerment. Both had admitted at the start of the 11-day trial to abusing the boy, now 10.
這對情侶住在德國西南部的施陶芬,于2017年9月被捕。周二,兩人被判嚴重性侵犯40項罪名成立,包括強奸、強迫賣淫、傳播兒童色情片及危害兒童罪。在這個為期11天的審判一開始,兩人就已經對侵犯這名現已10歲的男孩表示認罪。
Christian L. was also found guilty of sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl in early 2015. He was sentenced to 12 years in jail and ordered to remain in preventive custody upon his release.
克里斯蒂安·L還因在2015年年初性侵一名2歲女孩被判罪名成立。他被判處入獄12年,并且法庭命令他獲釋后需被防范性監(jiān)管。
According to the court, Berrin T. helped facilitate her boyfriend’s contact with the little girl, who was mentally and physically disabled. Several months later, in May 2015, the girl’s mother broke off contact with the couple, effectively ending her abuse.
據法庭表示,貝林·T幫忙推進了男友與這名小女孩的接觸,這名小女孩在智力和身體上均存在殘疾。幾個月后的2015年5月,女孩的母親與這對情侶斷絕往來,有效地結束了兩人的侵犯行為。
Christian L., a known pedophile with a criminal record who had previously shown an interest in abusing little girls only, then began abusing the boy, the court said. Berrin T. did nothing to stop the increasingly perverse advances on her son, which began with showing him pornographic videos and bribing him with expensive gifts in exchange for being allowed to touch him inappropriately, it said.
法庭稱,克里斯蒂安·L是一個有犯罪前科的戀童癖,此前只對小女孩表現出過興趣,后來開始侵犯這名男孩。貝林·T沒有做任何事情阻止對她兒子變本加厲的不正當的舉動,這種舉動一開始是向他展示色情視頻,用昂貴禮物進行賄賂,讓男孩允許他以不適當的方式進行觸摸,法庭說。
When the trial opened in June, Christian L. admitted to the charges of abuse, telling the judge “I am the main culprit.”
當審判于6月開始時,克里斯蒂安·L承認虐待指控,告訴法官“我是罪魁禍首”。
But the presiding judge, Stefan Bürgelin, handed a longer prison sentence, of 12 and a half years, to the boy’s mother. She was always present during the assaults, the court said, initially calming the child and then sexually assaulting him herself.
但是主審法官斯特凡·伯格林(Stefan Bürgelin)判處男孩的母親12年半監(jiān)禁。法官說,在性侵期間她總是在場,先是安撫孩子,然后自己性侵他。
In his pronouncement, the judge cited a video showing Berrin T. violating her son as evidence that her offenses were not only sexual, but also included emotional and psychological abuse. He said she broke her son’s trust in his “closest female caregiver” and robbed him of the protection of his home.
在宣判中,法官引用一段顯示貝林·T侵犯兒子的視頻,證明她不僅有性侵犯罪行,還有情感和心理虐待。他說,她辜負兒子對“最親密的女性照顧者”的信任,并剝奪了家庭為他提供的保護。
“If the boy dared to show or voice any resistance, he was frequently ignored, or dismissed with physical abuse,” the court said, adding that the couple would “regularly shout at him” and insult him using “an utterly contemptuous choice of words.”
“這個男孩如果敢于表現或表達任何反抗,往往會遭到忽視或身體虐待,”法庭說,而且,這對男女會“經常對他大喊大叫”并使用“完全鄙視性的詞匯”來侮辱他。
Before the arrest, the youth services agency considered the man a potential danger to children because he had been caught with child pornography in an unrelated case, and was ordered by the authorities to stay away from children. The agency also knew that he was frequently in the boy’s home.
在這次逮捕之前,青年服務機構認為這名男子對兒童構成潛在危險,因為他曾在一件與此案無關的案件中被抓到擁有兒童色情制品,并被當局命令遠離兒童。該機構也知道他經常留在這個男孩的家中。
In early 2017, the agency’s concern was great enough to temporarily place the boy in a foster home, but he was returned to his mother after she convinced a family court that she was aware of her boyfriend’s history and could protect her son from him.
2017年初,該機構非常擔憂,于是暫時將這個男孩安置在寄養(yǎng)家庭中,但他的母親對一個家庭法庭聲稱知道男友的歷史,并且可以保護兒子免受他的傷害,于是他又被送回母親家中。
The mother, who had sat stonily throughout the trial, showed no emotion while the sentence was read out, German news media reported. She chose not to challenge the ruling, which in addition to jail sentences, included fines worth 42,500 euros, or $49,200, to be paid to the victims.
據德國新聞媒體報道,這位母親在整個審判過程中一直坐在那里,在判決被宣讀時沒有表現出任何情緒。她選擇不對該裁決提出質疑,裁決除了判處監(jiān)禁外,還包括向受害者支付4.25萬歐元(約合4.92萬美元)的罰款。
“She accepts full responsibility for what happened to her son,” Matthias Wagner, an attorney who represented the mother told the Badische Zeitung newspaper. “This is important for the boy. He can now be certain that this process is over.”
“她對兒子的遭遇承擔全部責任,”代表這位母親的律師馬蒂亞斯·瓦格納(Matthias Wagner)告訴《巴登日報》(Badische Zeitung)。“這對這個男孩來說很重要。他現在可以確定這個過程結束了。”
But in a country where a mother’s “right to the protection and welfare of society” is enshrined in the Constitution, it was the role played by Berrin T. that most appalled Germans.
但是,在一個母親的“社會保護和福利權利”載入憲法的國家,貝林·T所扮演的角色是最令德國人震驚的。
“When parents become criminals to their children, the state must protect the child, with everything in its power,” the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper wrote in a commentary. “It must protect children from their parents.”
“當父母對孩子犯下罪行時,國家必須盡其所能地保護孩子,”《南德意志報》( Süddeutsche Zeitung)在評論中寫道。“它必須保護孩子不受父母傷害。”
The identities of the victims were not made public, in keeping with child protection laws. Authorities have placed the boy in the care of a foster family.
根據兒童保護法,受害者的身份未公開。當局已將該男孩安置在寄養(yǎng)家庭中。
Several of the men who paid to assault the boy have also been convicted, and on Monday, one was handed a 10-year prison sentence by a Spanish court. All but one found their victim on the dark web — parts of the internet that are concealed from view and are used for anonymity and criminal activity.
付款性侵這名男孩的幾個男子也被定罪,周一,其中一人被一個西班牙法院判處10年徒刑。除了一人之外,所有人都是在暗網上找到受害者的——暗網是指部分隱藏在人們視線之外的互聯網世界,用于匿名和犯罪活動。
Peter Egetemaier, chief of the criminal police in Freiburg, said investigators were lucky to get a tip from an anonymous user who came across the videos advertising the boy. A buyer had asked whether he could kill the boy after assaulting him, leading the tipster to alert both the federal police and the state police.
弗萊堡刑事警察局長彼得·埃格特梅爾(Peter Egetemaier)表示,調查者幸運地從一個匿名用戶那里得到了提示,該用戶看到了這個男孩的廣告視頻。一名買家詢問他是否可以在性侵這個男孩之后殺死他,于是該告密者提醒聯邦警察和州警察注意此事。
“It was an exceptional case — we were very lucky — but it won’t always be like this,” said Mr. Egetemaier in a telephone interview. Because Christian L. cooperated with authorities, they were able to glean crucial insights into the netherworld of criminal pedophilia that takes place online
. “這是一個例外情況——我們非常幸運——但并不總是這樣,” 埃格特梅爾在電話采訪中說。由于克里斯蒂安·L與當局合作,他們得以收集網上戀童癖犯罪世界的重要線索。
Confident that they have found everyone involved in the boy’s case, Mr. Egetemaier’s team is combing through material they collected to try to find suspects in unrelated cases.
埃格特梅爾的團隊確信他們已經找到了所有涉及該男孩案件的人,他們正在梳理收集的材料,試圖找到其他無關案件中的嫌疑人。
“He opened a door to this very dark world for us,” Mr. Egetemaier said.
“他為我們打開了通往這個黑暗世界的大門,” 埃格特梅爾說。