Jail delayed for German incest man with four children (Roundup)

Mar 2, 2007, 16:55 GMT

Karlsruhe, Germany - Germany's top court said Friday a man who has fathered four children by his sister will not have to go to jail until judges consider later this year whether the ban on incest is legal.

The Federal Constitutional Court said there was no need for it to issue any immediate order in the case, since a lower court in the city of Leipzig had already postponed the imprisonment of 30-year-old Patrick S. Prosecutors said they would respect this ruling.

S and his sister, Susan K, 22, have had four daughters, two of whom are handicapped, though prosecutors have not been able to prove that the disabilities were caused by the genetic abnormalities often associated with incest.

The couple are seeking a declaration that brothers and sisters have a right to sexual relations with one another.

S earlier received a suspended jail term for incest, then served a 25-month actual jail term and now faces a 30-month sentence because he refuses to end the relationship. The sister has received a first conviction of incest and was placed on probation for one year.

The brother and sister have posed in the German media for romantic photos together and some Berlin politicians have supported them, contending that incest might be immoral but should not be punished by law.

The couple did not grow up together, but first met in 2000 when Patrick S, who had been adopted as a baby, looked up his birth mother and first met his sister. The relationship began when the sister was 16. Under German law, incest is only punishable after the age of 18.

The constitutional court in the city of Karlsruhe has the task of deciding whether German laws conform with the constitution.

The siblings have retained a professor of criminal law, Knut Amelung, who will argue that a ban on sex between siblings breaches their civil rights and is a 'relic of the past.' An appeal court in Dresden rejected a similar appeal by the man last month.

German media reports said S began caring for his sister when she was orphaned by the death of their widowed mother at 50. Intimacy quickly followed. They now have four daughters who are aged between 5 years and 22 months.

The sister has also had a child by another man whom she met while Patrick S was in jail.

Winfried Hassemer, deputy chief judge of the constitutional court, said he expected the case to prompt a public debate in Germany about the centuries-old legal prohibition. He said a verdict was likely before the end of the year.