Cruel act against 15-year-old Trial in Cologne escalates - dramatic scenes in court

Four young men are on trial in Cologne for allegedly killing 15-year-old Dara. According to the indictment, they abducted the teenager outside a pub at the beginning of March - his body was later found undressed and covered in stab wounds in Mühlheim harbor.

The death of 15-year-old Dara shakes the city of Cologne. Four men (aged 19, 20, 20 and 27) are allegedly responsible for the gruesome killing of the teenager. The alleged murderers now have to stand trial at the regional court in Cologne. Even before the trial began, there were dramatic scenes in court.

As the first defendant was led into the courtroom, some of the spectators shouted loudly in his direction. A woman bangs on the three-meter-high plexiglass screen that separates the spectator area from the courtroom. Members of Dara's family scream and cry. The situation in the courtroom is getting increasingly out of control. More and more court constables try to de-escalate the angry atmosphere - to no avail. Finally, the presiding judge orders the courtroom to be cleared.

Mother spits at defendant

"I've never had a situation like this before," explains the presiding judge. The trial can only continue after 20 minutes. The other defendants are brought into the courtroom one by one, and the audience is also allowed to return after a while.

The judge struggles to keep order in the courtroom. Again and again he has to urge the angry relatives to be quiet. At the end of the first day of the trial, the next scandal follows: just as the accused 19-year-old is being led past the mother of the murdered Dara in the spectator area, the distraught woman jumps up and spits twice at the suspect. Members of the judiciary have to restrain the enraged woman.

Killed with eight stab wounds

According to the indictment, the four young men, three Germans and one Turk, are said to have jointly planned to kidnap Dara and then kill him. Two of the accused are said to have intercepted the boy of Kurdish origin outside the Zum Krug pub on March 10 and led him at gunpoint to a secluded area of the harbor in the Mülheim district of Cologne. The two other defendants then joined them there.

In the darkness of the adjacent Mülheim island, the four men killed the 15-year-old with a total of eight stab wounds. According to the autopsy, three stabs went into the lungs and one into the liver. Four further stabs were found in the left thigh. The forensic experts also established that Dara had been kicked in the head with shoes and his nose broken before he was killed. After the murder, the defendants allegedly stripped the body down to his underpants. One of the perpetrators admitted to having procured barbecue lighters at a petrol station to later burn the victim's clothes.

The motive for the crime is said to have been "revenge and anger". According to the indictment, the accused wanted to punish the 15-year-old for not paying 700 euros in debts from drug deals.

The charge is joint murder with base motives and deprivation of liberty resulting in death. The trial is scheduled to last a total of 16 trial days. The verdict is scheduled for January 17, 2025.