German child-sex kidnapper gets 15 years

14 December 2006

Dresden, Germany (dpa) – A German man who kidnapped a 13-year-old girl and kept her as a sex slave for five weeks was sent to prison Thursday for 15 years to be followed by long-term detention for the sake of public safety.

The parents of Stephanie Rudolph voiced relief outside the court. “He has got his just desserts,” Joachim Rudolph told reporters.

Mario Mederake, 35, had apologised at the end of the trial for kidnapping the girl on her way to school and abusing her in his apartment in Dresden, just a few blocks from her home, often confining her in a tiny airless crate.

In a dramatic turn, Mederake, who had a previous conviction for raping a minor, last month escaped from warders and climbed onto a prison roof where he taunted officials for about 20 hours, threatening to jump to his death if police tried to overpower him.

In a parallel with the case of Natascha Kampusch, who freed herself this year after eight years in captivity in Vienna, Stephanie dropped notes pleading for help as her captor “walked” her at night.

“She never lost her courage during her captivity,” said her father. “She has maintained her courage since then.” Her mother said Stephanie, now 14, was in her classroom at school at the moment the sentence was announced.

Convicting Mederake of abduction, rape, sexual abuse of a minor and assault, the court in Dresden handed down the maximum sentence for those charges under German law, as demanded by lawyers representing Stephanie and three months more than prosecutors sought.

“The defendant kidnapped her to satisfy his demands, mainly of a sexual nature, for a period without end,” said presiding judge Tom Maciejewski. “Every day he performed humiliating sexual acts on her.”

Mederake listened impassively. Psychologists said he had an IQ of 138 but was incapable of getting work in his trade as a fitter because he would not follow orders. He said he had wanted to “start a family” with his victim.

The public safety clause in his sentence means he must remain in custody until he reforms or becomes too old to be a threat.

German authorities have been under fire over the case, not only in connection with the semi-escape, but also because they failed to notice that a convicted sex offender lived in the neighhourhood when Stephanie vanished. Police freed her after finding one of her notes.

Mederake had previously been jailed for the 1999 rape of a 14-year-old girl. He has a daughter of his own, and his former girlfriends told the court he was a charming man but was untamable when enraged.

Stephanie has given detailed interviews to the media as the family crusades for state compensation because of the police blunders.

Mederake’s lawyer, Andreas Boine, declined comment.

DPA

Subject: German news