Criminal trial for alleged torture and rape begins in Soest

Dangerous bodily harm, rape, coercion and deprivation of liberty: The criminal trial is now beginning against four accused after the month-long martyrdom of a woman in Soest in Westphalia. They are said to have tortured, humiliated, mistreated and raped their victim in a residential building in 2025 with varying degrees of involvement.

According to the Arnsberg regional court, the accused are 29 and 25 years old, and two people, aged 16 and 17, are still minors. The trial is being conducted by the Grand Criminal Chamber as a youth chamber, said a court spokeswoman upon request. Even though two of the defendants are young people, the proceedings will be conducted publicly.

The two adult suspects remain in custody, the spokeswoman said. The hearing starts at the regional court on October 12th, after which 13 further dates are planned.

The case made headlines as the “Soest House of Horrors”.

The case became known as the “Soest House of Horrors” at the end of July and shocked nationwide. Emergency services freed the woman on November 3rd. A resident had seen the victim half naked and tied up on the terrace of the neighboring terraced house late in the evening that day and alerted the police. The woman is said to have been unconscious at the time and was then treated in hospital for months.

According to the district court, it is a woman from Soest who was born in 1993. No further information was provided citing her personal rights.

Beaten, humiliated and tied to a heating pipe

The defendants are said to have abused their victim from July to November 2025. Some are accused of physical assault, beating, humiliation and degradation of the woman, the court reported. Two suspects are also charged with rape.

One is also said to have tied the woman to a heating pipe twice for about an hour. In November she was “handcuffed and hung from a beam, partially undressed,” until she was freed by the police after several hours. A suspect is accused of injuring two other women with rubber bullets. The district court did not provide any details.

According to information from judicial circles, the main suspect is the 29-year-old. He lived with his then partner and three children in the house in a quiet residential area in the countryside where the crimes are said to have occurred. According to media reports, his partner and the subsequent victim knew each other before the alleged cases of violence occurred.

Memories of the “Höxter Horror House” are awakened

The shocking case has some parallels to the “Höxter House of Horrors”. Women were brutally tortured on the farm in East Westphalia, and two died as a result of their abuse. The perpetrator, Wilfried W., was sentenced to eleven years in prison in 2018 for murder by omission. At the end of 2023, the Paderborn regional court also ordered that he be placed in preventive detention after serving his prison sentence. His wife was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The couple had lured women to their farm with personal ads.

In the Soest case, however, according to information from judicial circles, the victim was not permanently imprisoned. Nevertheless, the accused acts of violence continued to occur. In this case, many questions remain unanswered. Trial dates are scheduled in Arnsberg until December 17th.