Patrick Stuebing Incest: German Ruling On Incest Case OKed By European Court

PARIS -- German courts did not violate a Leipzig man's privacy rights by convicting him for incest with his younger sister – with whom he fathered four children, the European Court of Human Rights said Thursday.

The court, part of the 47-nation Council of Europe based in eastern Strasbourg, France, said German courts didn't violate the rights of Patrick Stuebing, who was sentenced to 14 months in prison in 2005. He is now free.

The case had prompted calls for Germany to follow countries like France, Turkey, Japan and Brazil in amending its laws so that consensual sexual relations between adult relatives are no longer illegal.

Germany, as with most council member states, bars consensual sexual acts between adult siblings, the ECHR said. It also said there was not enough evidence to suggest a possible trend of decriminalization of such acts.

Stuebing had claimed his rights to private and family life were violated. The ECHR said the German courts did not convict his sister because she has a personality disorder and was "only partially liable" for her actions.

Stuebing, who was born in 1976, was placed in a children's home at age three and was adopted by a foster family four years later – and never came into contact with his family of origin until his biological mother died in 2000.

It was that year that Stuebing learned that he had a sister; they met, and developed an "intensified" relationship that December, the ECHR said. A month later, they started having consensual sexual intercourse, and ended up living together for several years. From 2001 to 2005, they had four children together.

The main basis for punishment for the incest, the ECHR said, was "the protection of marriage and the family" because it blurs family roles. It also noted "the risk of significant damage" to children born of such a relationship.

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Comments

[Heavy Mettle]

03:24 AM on 06/11/2013

Hitler had to have been born out of an incestuous relationship.

[rtgmath]

12:37 AM on 04/17/2012

I'm My Own Grandpa
Guy Lombardo

Now many many years ago when I was twenty-three
I was married to a widow who was pretty as can be
This widow had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red
My father fell inlove with her and soon they too were wed

Oh I'm my own grandpa
I'm my own granpa
It sounds funny I know,
But it really is so
Oh I'm my_own grandpa

This made my dad my son-in-law and changed my very life
My daughter was my mother 'cause shewas my father's wife
To complicate the matter even though it brought me joy
I soon became the father of a bouncing baby_boy

My little baby then became a brother-in-law to Dad
And so became my uncle, though it made me very sad
For if hewas my uncle, then that also made him br'ther
Of the widow's grown-up daughter who was also my stepmother

Father's wife then had a son who kept them on the run
And he became my grandchild, for he was my daughter's son
My wife is now my mother's mother and it makes me blue
Because altho' sheis my wife, she's my grandmother too

Now if my wife is my grandmother, then I'm her grandchild
And everytime I think of it, it nearly drives me wild
For now I have become the strangest case I ever saw
As husband of my grandmother, I am my own grandpa

[Miss Diamond Lil]

12:24 AM on 04/17/2012

Disgusting.

[RedTractor]

08:48 PM on 04/16/2012

The relationship has so far produced four children: Eric, Sarah, Nancy, and Sofia. Sofia, the only healthy child, remains with the couple. The older two children suffer from severe physical and mental disabilities. The third child was born with a heart condition but is healthy after undergoing a heart transplant. All three were placed in foster care.

[PPLIFE]

11:51 AM on 04/16/2012

Well, let's try it out and keep track of those little monsters. Let's see if they develop a pair of horns or something.

[oldwolf49]

08:54 PM on 04/15/2012

I really don't like it when people claim to understand science and genetics without verifying their opinions. That said, this is just wrong on pretty much every level.

[RawDogger]

05:03 PM on 04/15/2012

if theyre happy, good for them. the government needs to leave them alone

[oldwolf49]

08:49 PM on 04/15/2012

...........what...............? I mean, really........what?

[straight and true]

05:41 AM on 04/17/2012

it is the same excuse that is used to jusify other relationships ! ! !

[LPGat]

02:08 PM on 04/15/2012

If you believe in Adam and Eve and Noah's ark, then we are all the offspring of incest. A logical conclusion often illogically ignored by the religious. This article is about consensual sex between two adults only. There is also no medical evidence to support the idea that their children will be any different than other children mentally or otherwise. Myths, legends, and taboo have no place in modern laws and should be removed. As for the religious, for whom reason and reality has no meaning, they will continue to build and defend their moralistic lies as a way to hide all the deficiencies they have as human beings.

[Gingerland]

02:53 PM on 04/15/2012

Consanguinity is a major cause of birth defects and hereditary disease, as any first year medical student will tell you.

[RawDogger]

05:01 PM on 04/15/2012

no that is just a wives tale, an any recently educated first year medical student will tell you

[oldwolf49]

08:52 PM on 04/15/2012

There is actually evidence that supports the theory that "incestual" offspring are at much higher risk for genetic anomalies and birth defects because matching pairs of genes often offset each other.

[incognito-ergo-sum]

01:22 AM on 04/16/2012

Some societies required that brother and sister marry if they were the ruling class. I'm pretty sure the Egyptians did this at one point, and one of the tribes in America. Aztec or Inca,but I don't remember.

[World Citizen]

01:15 PM on 04/15/2012

Imagine a father who sexually abuses his daughter and who has successfully conditioned his daughter from a very young age that there is nothing wrong with that. Then finally, the daughter turns 18 and she is now an adult. The father divorces the wife and marries the daughter and have babies with the daughter. so does this law say that this is all legal?

[Staxx]

02:43 AM on 04/16/2012

I think you should just go back to sleep, sweet dreams.

[World Citizen]

03:19 AM on 04/16/2012

I think rude people like you should not be allowed to comment. If you can't answer my question, then you should have just passed.

[Noodlegirl]

01:14 PM on 04/15/2012

Well, unlike gays, incest couples can conceive children.

[PPLIFE]

11:45 AM on 04/16/2012

LOL. Wait for the attacks baby girl.

[ian0000]

12:52 PM on 04/15/2012

on a strictly legal basis , if gay marriage is approved by use of the equal protection clause of the constitution , is there way that an incestual couple wanting to be married could be denied?

[Dirk1]

12:57 PM on 04/15/2012

On a strictly legal basis, we already have Eingetragenepartnerschaften here in Germany (civil marriage) and no, that has not led to incest being treated as legal.
You christians have nothing to justify your opposition to treating us as fully human and entitled to full civil rights except your hatred. Of that, you seem to have plenty.

[straight and true]

05:47 AM on 04/17/2012

simple question, where was the hatred ? ? ?

[LPGat]

02:23 PM on 04/15/2012

The sun will set and rise again in the morning with or without your permission little one.

[straight and true]

05:51 AM on 04/17/2012

and this is the answer to what exactly? ?

[zenju2]

11:24 AM on 04/15/2012

It's really none of my business.

[Eric Burke]

03:18 PM on 04/15/2012

lol yeah who cares as long as they keep it on there side of the fence that's all I care about.

[Heavy Mettle]

03:21 AM on 06/11/2013

Since 2 of their 4 children were born with mental and physical problems, they are a burden to society.

[Posthuman]

11:07 AM on 04/15/2012

For everyone out there who wants to see this couple (oh, who are we kidding, you only want to see the man) incarcerated for this, I think this post by Volantiad should be required reading:

Actually, I was curious about that, too since I'd thought that siblings producing a child together would have a high likelihood of making a mutant monster or something. So, I found what one Registered Nurse had to say on Yahoo Answers (for what it's worth):

"Ugh. People just DO NOT understand how genetics work. Babies created from incest do not spontaneously have mutations or mental disabilities simply because they are the product of incest. What happens is, if there is a gene for a certain condition present in a family, it is more likely that the gene could be carried by and shared by both parents since they are related - which in turn makes it more common that any child created of that union could receive TWO copies of that gene. Most genetic conditions are the result of having two genes for the problem, but in non-incestuous relationships there is a less likely chance that one carrier would reproduce with someone who also carried the gene.

The rates of birth defects and other conditions is only slightly higher - NOT "highly likely" - in related individuals compared to non-related individuals.
Source(s):
RN, former genetics tutor"

[DON McDONALD]

01:43 PM on 04/15/2012

True, though the effect would compound if it was practiced over generations.

[incognito-ergo-sum]

01:26 AM on 04/16/2012

Which is why the elders watched that this wasn't common because they saw the results.

But it took time to understand what was happening.

[JadedNY]

02:08 PM on 04/15/2012

That's very interesting, thanks. Also when I was preggers, I was told that women over 35-40 don't necessarily have more kids with Down's syndrome - rather that happens more often to younger mothers.

[karen lyons kalmenson]

09:32 AM on 04/15/2012

incest laws are here to prevent more deliveries of "deliverance"

[LPGat]

02:51 PM on 04/15/2012

A movie is a poor substitute for a real education. There is no medical or historical evidence that these children will be subject to the deliverance myth that you propose. So let’s not attack the children here, or hang some albatross of guilt around their neck to satisfy your feelings of self-worthlessness. I am sure they will live long full lives.

[southingtonian]

11:40 PM on 04/15/2012

these children may be fortunate enough to not suffer from genetic repercussions of incest. that said, it is a good reason to be concerned. http://www.ias.ac.in/jgenet/Vol81No3/91.pdf

[msfaye]

06:20 AM on 04/15/2012

the article didn't bother to mention one or two of the kids have something wrong with them. and of course the government probably has to take care of the kids. don't think this is the first or last case like this look that that guy in austria who kept his daughter pregnant couple of those kids had something wrong with them. somewhere along the line people have just blurred the line between love and sex and don't think sex is love only something two people do with each other, until the babies start coming. then it becomes a problem. come to think of it there was a brother and sister team i think in kentucky that had a bunch of baby skeletons buried under the house. yeah, it's all fun and games until the babies start coming.

[LPGat]

03:21 PM on 04/15/2012

You have a great imagination, based on your completely fictional thinking and paranoid reasoning. You should become a horror story author; you could turn out some good movies. However, nothing you posted applies to this article or the people discussed. This is not the Salem witch trials, and I believe the adults in these various countries handled the situation correctly and with the proper perspective.