GERMANY: A German man confessed yesterday to killing and eating a willing victim in a case that shocked Germany, exposed the dark side of the Internet and could make legal history.
Mr Armin Meiwes (42) said at the start of his trial in the central German city of Kassel that eating a man felt like a religious act. Offering a full account of the killing that has gained him worldwide notoriety as "The Cannibal of Rotenburg", Mr Meiwes said there were "hundreds, thousands" of people seeking to fulfil their desires to eat humans - or be eaten - via Internet adverts.
Giving testimony so frank it drew gasps from the public gallery, Mr Meiwes said he had buried the innards of the corpse and kept the skull and plastic bags of flesh in his freezer. He ate about 20 kg of the flesh, defrosting it bit by bit.
Mr Meiwes said his upbringing alone with a dominant mother had stoked his interest in cannibalism, making him long for a little brother he could make part of himself. Mr Meiwes said he became obsessed with wanting a younger brother - "someone to be part of me".
The gaunt, bespectacled computer-repair man told of how he made contact online with the 43-year-old Berlin computer specialist identified only as "Bernd-Juergen B". He then killed him with a kitchen knife in a "slaughtering room".
"He told me he had had the desire since he was a child to be slaughtered and eaten," Mr Meiwes said.
"He was very intelligent and I didn't see any sign that he was disturbed." - (Reuters)