When Josephine R., a young woman from Goslar, accuses her mother and stepfather of years of sexual abuse, group rape, torture and even a planned murder, the case shocks Germany. Both parents are convicted and receive lengthy prison sentences; Josephine’s mother is additionally ordered into preventive detention.

Only a few years earlier, Josephine and her mother had celebrated a double wedding with their respective partners, an idea Josephine herself had proposed. Now, she becomes the key witness for the prosecution.

The police investigators involved in the case notice inconsistencies at an early stage. Josephine’s chat records do not appear to match the timeline of her allegations. Yet the prosecution maintains its course, and the Regional Court of Braunschweig bases its verdict largely on Josephine’s testimony. Later, Germany’s Federal Court of Justice criticises that the court had failed to properly assess whether Josephine was even capable of giving reliable testimony.

In this three-part ARD Crime Time series, a senior criminal investigator speaks publicly about his doubts and the evidence that pointed to a very different course of events. Crime reporter  Westermann, who closely followed the trial for the Braunschweiger Zeitung, reflects on his own.