"Daniel J. Stern" wrote:
>
> On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Bill Putney wrote:
>
> > Heard a story on the radio today about a gentleman in Germany who
> > advertises for people to volunteer to be tied to a slab or bed or
> > something and slowly cut to death with a knife and literally eaten piece
> > by piece - apparently some sexual thrill involved. He has killed at
> > least one volunteer that way and video taped it while the volunteer kept
> > encouraging him to keep cuttin' and eatin'
>
> You must not have been listening very closely, because what you *actually*
> heard on the radio was this:...
Why on earth would you presume to know what *I HEARD* on the radio, or
even that you and I heard the same broadcast? Yes - it's about the same
case, but one report was from CNN, the other from Reuters. Two *very
different* reports of the same thing, but each related very different
details and insight into the story.
The point of my post was that there you have two consenting adults in
the privacy of one's home - so by the logic of some here, there's
nothing wrong with it.
Below is the transcript of the account that I heard. Bizarre that you
would presume that we heard the same broadcast. I related it accurately
as it was broadcast - the broadcast that I heard had additional details.
"BERLIN (Reuters) - The trial of Armin Meiwes, the German computer
expert who gained worldwide notoriety by killing and eating a willing
victim, has begun, in a case of sexually inspired cannibalism so
perplexing it could make legal history.
Meiwes, 42, described by his lawyer as a "gentleman of the old school",
has confessed to killing a Berlin man who answered an advertisement he
had posted on the Internet seeking a fit man "for slaughter."
They met in Meiwes's elegant half-timbered home in the town of
Rotenburg, central Germany, in March 2001. Meiwes killed the man, named
only as Bernd-Juergen B., with a kitchen knife and filmed the deed on
video tape which may be shown at the trial.
Meiwes's lawyer Harald Ermel said it took the victim nearly 10 hours to
bleed to death and that he had repeatedly urged Meiwes to keep on
cutting him.
Meiwes cut up the body and stored parts in his freezer. "He believes he
ate about 20 kilograms and there were about 10 kilograms left over,"
said Ermel.
"He defrosted it little by little and ate it."
Police arrested Meiwes over a year later, in December 2002, after a
tip-off from someone who had spotted another of his adverts on the
Internet.
Meiwes is expected to repeat his confession at the trial that will be
attended by reporters from all over the world. He is already planning to
write his memoirs, his lawyer said.
Meiwes told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag last week: "I am guilty and
regret what I did." He said he had eaten his victim because he wanted to
make him part of himself, a desire that he had satisfied and that would
not recur.
Professor Andreas Marneros, director of the Halle Clinic for Psychiatry
and Psychotherapy, said: "This is cannibalism as a sexual perversion,
it's a phenomenon that has been known about for centuries. I have
examined four such people."
LEGAL DILEMMA
Prosecutors in the city of Kassel say a psychiatric examination found
Meiwes is not insane but they added that his victim may have been
incapable of rational thought.
So while prosecutors acknowledge the victim said he wanted to die, they
are seeking a life sentence on a charge of murder motivated by sexual
urges.
Meiwes's lawyer wants him to be convicted of "killing on request", a
form of illegal euthanasia which carries a sentence of six months to
five years.
The problem, legal experts say, is that Meiwes's victim wanted to be
eaten. That could make a murder charge difficult to apply, while the
lesser charge of manslaughter carries a term of 15 years or considerably
less, after which Meiwes would be free.
Professor Arthur Kreuzer of the Institute for Criminology at Giessen
University, said the case might make legal history.
"This is killing undertaken for both killer and victim and cannot be
regarded as the worst case of premeditated killing.
"But I don't think it is a killing on request either because it was not
an altruistic, but an egoistic deed."
Kreuzer said the case may go as high as the Federal Constitutional Court
and that prosecutors may be forced to consult new medical experts to
assess Meiwes's mental state.
Meiwes's lawyer has revealed that his client had four other guests in
his home, but let them all go.
"There was a teacher, a cook, a hotel employee and a student. He had
them hanging from the ceiling head down and they had no chance of
freeing themselves. One felt sick, the other didn't want to go on, he
let them all down."
Ermel said Meiwes chatted about cannibalism with at least 280
like-minded people on the Internet. In Germany about 200 people on the
Internet were offering to be slaughtered, 30 ready to do the
slaughtering and 10 to 15 wanting to watch, he said.
Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")
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