Cook on a hook: cannibal marked meat cuts
December 17, 2003
BERLIN: A court in Germany trying a self-confessed cannibal for murder heard evidence yesterday from a cook who claimed he allowed himself to be hung on a meat hook and for choice cuts to be marked out on his body.
The 32-year-old chef is the first of up to five cannibal fantasists who are due to testify against Armin Meiwes, who has admitted killing and eating 43-year-old engineer Bernd-Juergen Brandes in 2001.
Since cannibalism is not illegal in Germany, Meiwes is charged with Brandes' murder driven by sexual urges. If he is found guilty, he will get life in prison.
But Meiwes claims that Brandes wanted to be killed and eaten.
If found guilty of being just the instrument of Brandes' death, he will get five years jail.
Among the other cannibal fantasists expected to give evidence are a teacher, a hotel worker and a pensioner, Meiwes has previously told the court in Kassel, in central Germany.
They all contacted Meiwes on the Gay Cannibals internet chatroom, where he went under the alias of Franky from Rotenburg.
The cook turned up to testify wearing a hat and dark sunglasses to protect his identity.
The public was excluded while he gave evidence.
Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer technician, has told investigators that the cook, with whom he had been in e-mail contact for more than two years, allowed him to mark edible parts of his body for carving.
After rubbing oil on him, Meiwes pulleyed him onto a meat hook specially installed in his manor house in Rotenburg, near Kassel.
But the cook "immediately felt cold and unwell", Meiwes told investigators, "so we stopped".
He later altered the video he had taken of the "role play" in order "to make it look genuine".
The accused has already admitted in court that he met five other potential victims but did not eat them for various reasons either they were too fat, too old, they backed out of the deal or appeared unfriendly.
Meiwes insists he did not do anything against anyone's will, saying the man he ate in March 2001, Brandes, wanted to be killed and consumed.
Prosecutors however say he is guilty of murder for exploiting his victim's apparent death wish. He faces life in prison if convicted.
Meiwes' lawyers say he is guilty, at worst, of killing on demand.
Meiwes claims he was searching for a substitute brother who he wanted inside him.
His method was so effective, he said, that he found himself speaking better English after eating parts of Brandes' body, reflecting the superior language skills of his victim.
Evidence has been heard that Meiwes was still on the hunt for new victims after Brandes' death shortly before Easter 2001.
By December 2002, the time of the police raid, Meiwes had eaten almost all of 20kg of his deep-frozen victim.
Earlier yesterday, a policeman told the court that Meiwes' work colleagues had considered him a "nice, polite and helpful person".
December 17, 2003
BERLIN: A court in Germany trying a self-confessed cannibal for murder heard evidence yesterday from a cook who claimed he allowed himself to be hung on a meat hook and for choice cuts to be marked out on his body.
The 32-year-old chef is the first of up to five cannibal fantasists who are due to testify against Armin Meiwes, who has admitted killing and eating 43-year-old engineer Bernd-Juergen Brandes in 2001.
Since cannibalism is not illegal in Germany, Meiwes is charged with Brandes' murder driven by sexual urges. If he is found guilty, he will get life in prison.
But Meiwes claims that Brandes wanted to be killed and eaten.
If found guilty of being just the instrument of Brandes' death, he will get five years jail.
Among the other cannibal fantasists expected to give evidence are a teacher, a hotel worker and a pensioner, Meiwes has previously told the court in Kassel, in central Germany.
They all contacted Meiwes on the Gay Cannibals internet chatroom, where he went under the alias of Franky from Rotenburg.
The cook turned up to testify wearing a hat and dark sunglasses to protect his identity.
The public was excluded while he gave evidence.
Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer technician, has told investigators that the cook, with whom he had been in e-mail contact for more than two years, allowed him to mark edible parts of his body for carving.
After rubbing oil on him, Meiwes pulleyed him onto a meat hook specially installed in his manor house in Rotenburg, near Kassel.
But the cook "immediately felt cold and unwell", Meiwes told investigators, "so we stopped".
He later altered the video he had taken of the "role play" in order "to make it look genuine".
The accused has already admitted in court that he met five other potential victims but did not eat them for various reasons either they were too fat, too old, they backed out of the deal or appeared unfriendly.
Meiwes insists he did not do anything against anyone's will, saying the man he ate in March 2001, Brandes, wanted to be killed and consumed.
Prosecutors however say he is guilty of murder for exploiting his victim's apparent death wish. He faces life in prison if convicted.
Meiwes' lawyers say he is guilty, at worst, of killing on demand.
Meiwes claims he was searching for a substitute brother who he wanted inside him.
His method was so effective, he said, that he found himself speaking better English after eating parts of Brandes' body, reflecting the superior language skills of his victim.
Evidence has been heard that Meiwes was still on the hunt for new victims after Brandes' death shortly before Easter 2001.
By December 2002, the time of the police raid, Meiwes had eaten almost all of 20kg of his deep-frozen victim.
Earlier yesterday, a policeman told the court that Meiwes' work colleagues had considered him a "nice, polite and helpful person".
