With a soft air gun in his hand, the perpetrator enters an organic market in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel and demands money from the till. The man hides his appearance behind a latex mask that represents the face of an old man. He raided the same branch five times. The public prosecutor accuses him of two other crimes in other parts of the city. A 44-year-old confessed to all these acts in tears in front of the Hamburg district court on Thursday. “I’m in the right place, I’m the perpetrator,” said the father, who had no criminal record.
The prosecution accuses him of robbery in six cases – five of them in particularly serious cases – and attempted serious robbery extortion in one case (Az634 KLs 16/22). Between August 24, 2021 and May 6, 2022, he attacked branches of an organic market chain. According to the public prosecutor’s office, he always hit the same shop in his neighborhood in the Eimsbüttel district, only once in Eppendorf. He also asked for money in a pizza branch in Groß Borstel. According to the prosecution, a witness grabbed his arm and pushed him out of the store. In the raids, he stole a total of more than 4100 euros.
Visibly moved, the man described how it could have come to this. He had to go back 20 years in the past. At that time, his best friend, with whom he lived together, slipped further and further into the drug world. “He was just on it,” said the accused. As a result, there was less contact.
The friend died of a cocaine overdose in 2004 while trying to smuggle drugs. That was a catastrophe, the man said. He got married himself, had three children and had a steady job. At times, however, he had problems with alcohol and very rarely took cocaine, he said.
On New Year’s Eve 2011 he wanted to take these drugs again and when he was buying them he met two men whom he said he knew briefly through his former best friend. They punched him and demanded that he pay for the drug money they lost when their friend died while smuggling. The 44-year-old said he had to get 5,000 euros within a week. The men’s threat: “Otherwise you’ll have a kneecap less.” They threatened him with a gun.
“I scraped together money,” said the accused. But the blackmailers were not satisfied: in 2018 they ambushed him again, demanded more money and beat him. Over the years it has started all over again. According to the accused, he took out loans, borrowed money from friends and colleagues, and stole valuables from family members. “I even went to my kids’ money box,” he said through sobs.
He hid this pressure from his relatives and his employer and consumed a lot of alcohol out of fear for himself and his family. After all, he saw no other way out than the robberies, which he can hardly remember – probably also because he was drinking again at the time of the crime. He’s very sorry. “Now that I’ve said everything, a ballast has fallen off my shoulders,” emphasized the man who is in custody. After his arrest, he went into rehab.
The district court has scheduled a total of ten days of hearings until mid-December. The trial will continue on Tuesday.
