The Peggy case is one of the most spectacular criminal cases in Germany: the then nine-year-old girl disappeared without a trace in May 2001 on her way home from school in Lichtenberg, Upper Franconia (Hof district). It wasn’t until 2016 that Peggy’s body was discovered in a forest in Thuringia, on the border with Bavaria. To date, no perpetrator has been convicted.
Nearly 23 years after the girl’s disappearance, the mother’s case for pain and suffering was heard in the Regional Trial Court on Thursday. It is aimed at a former suspect in the case. When questioned by police in 2018, the man stated that he had taken Peggy’s body to a forest in May 2001. He said at the time that he had previously received the girl’s lifeless body from another man at a bus stop in Lichtenberg. Moments later, the man’s lawyer accused the police of putting pressure on the then 41-year-old. The police denied this, but the man withdrew his confession and was released.
Mother sues ex-suspect for damages
The mother of the murdered girl now accuses the man of having been in the dark about the whereabouts of her child for fifteen years and as a result of having suffered psychological disabilities. She demands compensation of at least 75,000 euros – for every year of uncertainty at that time, she wants 5,000 euros.
The man again denied the allegations on Thursday and stated that the statements he made to the police at the time were false and had only been made under pressure. The man’s lawyer asked for the lawsuit to be declared unfounded.
No decision yet
No decision was initially made. The court set the hearing date for May 22. Until then, the chamber wants to decide whether further evidence is needed or whether a decision will be announced immediately.
The proceedings are also not expected to provide a definitive answer to Peggy’s murder. Just a few years after the girl’s disappearance, a mentally disabled man from Lichtenberg was convicted as Peggy’s killer in 2004; ten years later he was released in a new trial; After the suspicion against the then 41-year-old no longer existed in 2018, the Public Prosecution Service stopped the investigation in October 2020. The girl’s remains were buried in an undisclosed location in April 2021.
Source: Krone
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