German teacher accused of cannibalism and hiding parts of victim’s body across Berlin

Parts of victim’s body remained missing as trial began

Defendant was hidden behind screen as he appeared in court (AP)

A teacher in Germany suspected of murder and cannibalism has gone on trial in the country’s capital.

The man, named only as Stefan R, is reported to have met victim Stefan Trogisch on a dating site hours before the killing.

Martin Glage, prosecuting, said the accused was seeking "sexual gratification" from the killing and "wanted to eat" parts of the 43-year-old mechanic's corpse, according to German media. There was no indication that Trogisch agreed to be killed, the court heard.

After the killing on 5 September 2020, Stefan R allegedly chopped up the man's body in his flat in the central Berlin neighbourhood of Pankow before spreading it around different areas of the city, news agency DPA reported.

Police spent weeks looking for the missing man before a dog walker found his femur in a forest in northern Berlin in November. More bones were reportedly found two weeks later in a Pankow park. Stefan R, a 41-year-old Berliner, was tracked down with the help of sniffer dogs.

Parts of the victim’s body had still not been found as the trial began, according to Berliner Zeitung. The paper said Mr Glage recounted how officers found a great quantity of Trogisch’s blood in the home of Stefan R.

Mr Glage also told the court the secondary school teacher spoke to people on web forums about cannibalism in the months leading to the killing, the paper said.

The defendant is reported to have identified on dating site Romeo-Planet as “MasterButcher79”, echoing the nickname given to infamous German cannibal Armin Meiwes, who is serving a life sentence for the killing and eating of a man he met online in 2001.

Another notorious cannibalism case saw a German police officer 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 officer did so.

The first day of the Stefan R trial lasted less than half an hour but will continue with witnesses first set to appear next Tuesday, according to Berliner Zeitung. The trial is expected to last until mid-October and testimony from the victim's mother is expected, the paper said.

Additional reporting by AP