German teacher convicted of 'cannibalism fantasy' killing of gay man

A Berlin teacher has been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison for the killing of another man that the judge said was carried out as part of “cannibalism fantasies”.

The 42-year-old, who has been identified only as Stefan R in keeping with German privacy rules, went on trial in August at the Berlin state court.

Presiding Judge Matthias Schertz said the defendant killed a 43-year-old mechanic in September 2020 “to live out his cannibalism fantasies”, news agency dpa reported.

“What you did was inhuman,” the judge said.

He was also convicted of disturbing the peace of the dead, regional broadcaster RBB reported.

The men met on a dating portal and agreed to meet for sex at the teacher’s apartment in the German capital, according to investigators.

The defendant allegedly chopped up the other man’s body and then spread parts of it in different neighbourhoods of the city.

Police spent weeks looking for the missing mechanic before bones were found in a Berlin forest.

The court found that the defendant bears “particularly grave” responsibility, meaning that he will not be entitled to the automatic parole after 15 years that is customary in Germany.

He disputed the charges, and the defence had sought his acquittal.

The case is not the first in Germany involving alleged cannibalism or fantasies of it.

In 2006, a German court convicted Armin Meiwes of murder and disturbing the peace of the dead for killing and eating a man he had met online.

Meiwes is currently serving a life sentence.

A German police officer was convicted of murder in 2015 for killing a man he met in an internet chat forum devoted to cannibalism.

Prosecutors said the victim had fantasised about being eaten, but there was no evidence the suspect actually did so.