Overview
- The criminal trial at the Landgericht Arnsberg has begun against four accused: two adult men (29 and 25) and two male juveniles (17 and 16), with the Große Strafkammer sitting as a Jugendkammer and hearings held in public.
- Prosecutors charge the defendants with dangerous bodily harm, rape, coercion and deprivation of liberty over an alleged campaign of abuse that they say lasted for months in a Soest house.
- Police and emergency crews freed the victim after a neighbour found her half-naked and bound on a terrace in early November 2025, and she required months of hospital treatment.
- Investigators say newly found evidence led to the unexpected arrest on 24 September of the alleged main perpetrator's former partner, who has been in pretrial custody since 25 September and faces six counts of bodily harm and coercion that could bring a separate trial.
- Local groups have organized a public demonstration in Soest from the train station to the market square to support the victim and to press for better protections for homeless and otherwise vulnerable women.