Trial of Block Children: Defense lawyers support Delling's statement

Several defense attorneys have made statements about the admission of the accused ex-sports presenter Gerhard Delling in the Hamburg trial surrounding the kidnapping of the Block children.

These statements confirmed the statements of the defendant Christina Block, said Block's lawyer Ingo Bott before the Hamburg regional court. The 53-year-old is Delling's (67) partner.

Delling's descriptions made it clear how overwhelmed Christina Block was when she received the news on New Year's Eve that the children were back in Germany, Bott explained. In addition, the “desperation and distress of Ms. Block as a mother,” who had no contact with her children, was evident.

According to the indictment, Block children were kidnapped from Denmark

The Hamburg entrepreneur Block is accused of having commissioned an Israeli security company to kidnap her then 13-year-old daughter and ten-year-old son from her father Stephan Hensel's home in Denmark to Germany after a bitter custody dispute. Block's former husband did not bring the ex-couple's two youngest children back to Hamburg as agreed after a weekend visit in August 2021.

The masked perpetrators seized the children on New Year's Eve 2023/24 and drove them first to southern Germany. Block's partner Delling is charged with aiding and abetting. Both emphasize that they have done nothing wrong. They were completely surprised by the kidnapping. A 37-year-old Israeli is the only one of the seven defendants who has admitted the prosecutor's allegations.

Lawyer: What should my client have said?

A relative and close confidant of Christina Block is also charged with aiding and abetting. According to the prosecution, the 50-year-old drove the boy, the girl and the mother the last part of the way home in a car at the beginning of 2024 after they had been dropped off in a Hamburg suburb. Her defense attorney Reinhard Daum emphasized that Delling's statement showed that his client had only recently found out about the children's impending return.

Delling had explained that the relative had been asked to take on the trip because she had had a good relationship with the children during her time in Hamburg. It was assumed that the boy and the girl would be happy to see each other again. “Wouldn’t you have acted the same way?” asked defense attorney Daum in the courtroom, looking at the 50-year-old. What was his client supposed to say: “Watch how you get home”? The aim was not to support a criminal act.

The trial continues on Monday.