A 68-year-old German national has been charged with 22 counts of sexual assault against 14 women, whom he allegedly drugged and raped while they were unconscious, recording the attacks on video. Berlin prosecutors announced the indictment on Thursday, noting that the suspect, an electrician, has been in custody since March 2025.
Suspect allegedly used sleeping tablets and alcohol
According to the Berlin public prosecutor's office, the accused is believed to have sedated his victims using a combination of sleeping tablets and alcohol. He allegedly met the women on online dating platforms before the assaults. The ongoing investigation has revealed alleged offences against a total of 58 women, with 10 still unidentified.
Because the suspect recorded each rape, all charges are linked to violations of the right to one's own image. The victims who have spoken to investigators reported no memory of the assaults, learning of them only after the videos were discovered.
Case uncovered after tip from Lower Saxony
The case emerged following a tip from police in Lower Saxony, who in early 2025 were investigating similar allegations against a now-deceased man believed to have been in contact with the Berlin suspect via online chats. A search of the suspect's flat in Berlin's Friedrichsfelde suburb uncovered a cache of digital files. In 2026, an investigator found multiple videos of sexual assaults allegedly depicting the suspect as the assailant. Police raided his home again in March 2025 and detained him.
Prosecutors stated that the suspect has not yet responded to the charges. The case echoes other recent high-profile incidents in Germany involving serial sexual assaults of drugged women captured on camera.
Parallels to Gisèle Pelicot case
German media have drawn comparisons to the case of Frenchwoman Gisèle Pelicot, whose ex-husband was convicted of drugging and abusing her and offering her unconscious to dozens of strangers for rape over nearly a decade. In April 2025, Munich judge Markus Koppenleitner, while sentencing a Chinese student to 11 years for drugging and raping his girlfriend, noted: “Pelicot is not an isolated case. This is not a Chinese or French phenomenon, but one that also occurs in Germany and, ultimately, worldwide.”
The convicted man was part of a Telegram group called “German Driving School” that targeted women of Chinese heritage in Europe. UK investigators have also uncovered a “truly international network” of organised drug-facilitated sexual attacks.
