Man goes on trial for raping daughter

A GERMAN man has gone on trial in Nuremberg on hundreds of counts of rape over allegations he assaulted his daughter for more than three decades and fathered three sons by her.

As the trial opened, Adolf B admitted to the court that he had frequent sex with his daughter, now 46, but said it was consensual.

But prosecutors say the 69-year-old, whose last name has not been released, beat his daughter and threatened her with a knife to force her to have sex with him, starting when she was 12 or 13.

She had three sons by him, all disabled, and two died as infants.

He is charged with 497 counts of rape and additional charges of incest, and faces 15 years in prison if convicted.

Authorities uncovered the case when the woman was convicted of blackmailing the wife of a doctor she blamed for her son’s disability. She was assigned a parole officer who won her trust and heard her story.

The trial began amid great media interest, with Adolf B hiding his face from cameras as he was wheeled into the courtroom in a wheelchair.

He seemed to have difficulty understanding many of the terms used, and his lawyer often had to repeat and explain questions asked.

The daughter’s lawyer, Andrea Kühne, said her client was “shocked and furious” at her father’s statement that the sex was consensual. “My client would never have pressed charges if she had felt that way.”