Four men have been arrested after eight underage girls alleged they were sexually assaulted at the Barbarossabad swimming pool in Gelnhausen, Germany, last Sunday
At least eight underage girls were sexually assaulted in a public outdoor swimming pool in Germany, police have said.
The victims, aged between 11 and 16, were visiting the Barbarossabad swimming pool in Gelnhausen, the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis in the state of Hesse, when the alleged incident happened last Sunday. According to police reports, at around 5pm several girls reported to the pool staff that they had been touched all over their bodies by a group of men.
It is alleged the attack happened in the whirlpool area. After the incident was reported to the police, four suspects aged between 18 and 28 were arrested.
German newspaper Bild reported that another man allegedly left the pool undetected.
Criminal charges have been filed against all the men, who were also banned from the pool. Reports say five schoolgirls initially reported the incidents – and after news of the alleged sexual assaults became public knowledge, more victims came forward to report their own experiences.
Bild reported the girls also testified they had been sexually harassed. The town’s mayor, Mayor Christian Litzinger, said the incident was the first of its kind at the swimming pool, according to Hessischer Rundfunk.