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German Married Couple Arrested After Torturing Women to Death

© AFP 2023 / Friso Gentsch/dpaThe house of the married couple in Höxter
The house of the married couple in Höxter - Sputnik International
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The German police arrested a married couple who tortured female prisoners in their "house of horrors" for several years.

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According to media reports, the victims of 46-year-old Wilfried W. and his 47-year-old wife Angelika B., residing in the German city of Höxter (North Rhine-Westphalia), were at least two women who were tortured to death.

Another woman, who according to her own statement had been tortured for three months but managed to survive, is currently being questioned by the police.

In an interview with Sputnik, Achim Ridder, spokesman for the special investigation police in Bielefeld, described the testimony of the witness as follows:

"In August 2011, the 51-year-old woman had answered a personal ad of Wilfried W. published in a newspaper. After a few phone calls, the woman was picked up by the two suspects and taken by car to a house in Bosseborn. During her three-week visit to the couple, there were no assaults. After her stay, the 51-year-old returned home to Berlin and kept in contact with Wilfried W."

"From the end of 2011 until March 2012, the victim again spent time at the house in Bosseborn," Ridder said referring to the victim's statement. "During this time she was physically abused by the two suspects. According to her, she was imprisoned and had no way to escape. In March 2012, after heavy physical abuse, the 51-year-old was transported to a station and put on a train back home. The suspects threatened her with the use of force, and the victim didn't call the police."

But what drives people to torturing others to death? Professor Dr. Christian Pfeiffer from the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony explained possible motives in an interview with Sputnik.

According to him, people who commit violence might be driven by many problems, including those lying in their childhood. Often these are people who have suffered a lot in their childhood and use violence as attempt to cover up this bad experience and, in a way, prove their superiority.

"When such people […] start talking honestly about their childhood during a court secession, then it mostly comes out that they have suffered from extreme powerlessness, humiliation, beatings, lack of love and the primary need: I'll show it to them all when I grow up."

The situation is especially dangerous when in addition, "the life is pretty messed up and a person is unable to succeed in anything". In this case, his or her desire to exercise power and dominate over someone increases even more.

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So far, Wilfried W. has not confessed to committing the crime and denied his guilt. His wife is currently undergoing interrogation.

Pfeiffer assumes that the woman might soon be ready to testify in court. According to him, she is likely to have been intimidated by her dictator-husband, who was able to subdue the woman so much that she agreed to play her role in this terrible game.

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