A German teacher who allegedly murdered then ate a man he met on an online dating app to fulfill “cannibalism fantasies” has been sentenced to life in prison for the gut-wrenching killing, according to reports.
The 42-year-old math and chemistry teacher, identified only as Stefan R., in accordance with German privacy rules, was found guilty of murder and disturbing the peace of the dead for the September 2020 murder, The Guardian reported Friday.
According to the Berlin state court, Stefan R. had killed his victim to “obtain sexual gratification” via the murder and eating parts of the victim’s corpse, CNN reported. Court documents said Stefan R met the 43-year-old mechanic on an online dating platform, where they arranged to meet up at the defendant’s Berlin suburban apartment. There, Stefan R allegedly sedated his date, killed him, then severed his genitals before consuming them.
The court found the defendant carried out the gruesome acts to “to live out his cannibalism fantasies,” news agency DPA reported.
“What you did was inhuman,” said the judge, Matthias Schertz.
The defendant had “developed slaughter and cannibalism ideas” and visited multiple cannibalism websites and online forums, Schertz reportedly said. In addition, investigators discovered a bone saw and specialist knives at his home, the Guardian reported.
According to CNN affiliate NTV, the prosecutor said during the trial, which began in August, that Stefan R. “lured the man into a trap,” and had repeatedly spoken about cannibalism with other sexual partners, and “wanted to live out his fantasies.”
In response, the defendant denied killing the mechanic, claiming he found the electrical worker dead on his couch after he slept at his northern Berlin apartment, and did not for emergency services “because it would have come out that I am homosexual,” according to The Guardian.
The court ruled that because Stefan R. has been found guilty of a “particularly serious crime,” he cannot be released on automatic parole that in Germany comes after serving 15 years in prison, though the verdict can be appealed, according to CNN.
The victim, Stefan Trogisch, disappeared on Sept. 6, 2020, after taking a cab to the suburb of northern Berlin. The last person to see Trogisch alive was the driver, who dropped him off near Stefan’s apartment in Pankow, according to the Telegraph. Weeks later, his body parts were discovered in the area, including a torso and thigh bone.
The German media has named his alleged murderer the “Cannibal of Pankow.”