Letter from Munich – 038
Letter from Munich – the Joseph Affair – 38
EINE DEUTSCHE FASSUNG STEHT WEITER UNTEN.
28 September 2001
Dear Mr. Graf, dear friends,
As I mentioned last I week, I recently received a transcript of the questioning by a judge of a witness in the investigation into the death of the child Joseph Kantelberg-Abdulla. (Dresden district court: 270 Gs 3141/00 and 414 Js 53329/00.) According to the transcript, the questioning took place on 16 October 2000 in Dresden and began at 1:07 PM. Those present are listed as: District Court Judge Weidig, District Attorney Flockerzy, and Court Reporter Koedel, as well as the witness, Rene May. According to the information in the transcript, the witness was born on 20 May 1985 in Sebnitz, was residing in that town, and was a pupil in the ninth grade. The transcript begins with the standard formula: “The witness was informed of the object of the investigation. He was admonished to tell the truth and was made aware of his right to remain silent under German law (Para. 52 I StPO) if he was a relative of the accused. . . . The witness was also informed that his statement could have the force of sworn testimony. He was advised of the significance of an oath taken before the court, . . . as well as of the fact that under German law (Para. 153 – 155 StGB) a false or incomplete statement before the court is a punishable offense.”
Despite this admonition, at the start of questioning, the witness was reluctant to state what he had seen at the swimming pool in Sebnitz on 13 June 1997. He apparently preferred to express his hostility toward Joseph’s mother, Frau Dr. Kantelberg-Abdulla. However, after questioning was interrupted from 2:04 PM to 2:32 PM, he stated:
“Joseph, his sister, my brother Sven and I went to the deep paddling pool. After a short while Joseph left the pool, and Sven and I moved towards the whirlpool. From there I saw that Maik Hauke and Sandro Richter, together with the girl Ute Schneider, were bothering and pestering Joseph. The whole thing happened in the paddling pool area. They hit Joseph in the neck. Then the girl took out a small bottle. The bottle had the shape of a bottle for medicine like nose drops, but I couldn’t see what was in the bottle. The bottle was opened and what was inside was poured into a drink, it could have been cola. Joseph was forced to drink this up. Then he was wrapped in a big white towel. He was held by Maik and Sandro, and the girl wrapped him in the towel.”
In answer to a question, the witness replied: “Joseph fell down right after he drank. After they’d wrapped him in the towel, they dragged him to the deep paddling pool, all three. This paddling pool was empty then, though there were a lot of people in the main swimming pool that day.”
In answer to a question, the witness replied: “They threw him in the paddling pool and jumped in right after. Before that, they unwrapped him from the towel.”
In answer to another question, the witness replied: “After a while, maybe ten minutes, the three left the paddling pool and dried themselves off. Then they went towards the changing rooms. I could see all this from the whirlpool.”
Continued next week.
Sincerely yours,
Robert John Bennett
Mauerkircherstrasse 68
81925 Germany
Telephone: +49.89.981.0208
