A 27-year-old migrant has been arrested for a sexual attack on two nine-year-old girls at a swimming pool in the German town of Rendsburg.
Two nine-year-old girls told Rendsburg police that they were inappropriately touched by two foreigners at the local swimming pool on Saturday, according to local media reports.
Officers were immediately dispatched to the leisure facility, but managed to detain only one of the attackers – a 27-year-old Iraqi man. An arrest warrant was issued for the second offender, who reportedly fled the scene, by the local prosecutor’s office on Sunday.
The girls were handed over to their parents. The police and prosecutor’s office have made no comments due to privacy laws.
Sexual attacks carried out by asylum-seekers, especially at leisure centers and swimming pools, have recently been in the media spotlight in Germany, which is struggling to cope with one of the worst refugee crises in modern European history.
Another German town, Norderstedt, which is also located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, saw a similar attack in early March, after which two asylum-seekers, an adult man and a 14-year-old boy, were charged with attempted rape. They were mandated to remain in custody without bail by a court due to the risk of a repeat offence.
READ MORE: German swimming pool closed to male refugees after assaults on women
In January, an alarming number of reports received by women complaining that they had been sexually harassed by refugees prompted swimming centers in Bonn to ban male migrants. Another center near Cologne had to step up security for the same reasons.
READ MORE: 2 teenage girls sexually assaulted by Afghan migrants at German waterpark
The safety measures were taken in the aftermath of the mass sexual assaults allegedly carried out by migrants in the heart of Cologne on New Year’s Eve. After the attacks were initially hushed up by German authorities, the incident finally made headlines, raising the question in the minds of many Germans as to whether refugees from the Middle East and North Africa will be able to integrate within the European society.