New allegations made against Rammstein’s Till Lindemann and Christian Lorenz
In light of a police investigation into Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann, fresh accusations have been made against him and bandmate Christian Lorenz.
The new allegations follow a spokesperson for the Berlin public prosecutor’s office saying in a statement last month: “Preliminary proceedings have been initiated against Till Lindemann, on allegations relating to sexual offences and the distribution of narcotics.” The prosecutors chose to open the investigation “on the basis of several criminal complaints filed by third parties.”
Now, two women have anonymously come forward with historic allegations which they claim occurred over 20 years ago. The first woman, who has been given the pseudonym Jasmin Stevens, alleges an incident took place in 2002, when she was only 17.
Stevens attended a signing for Lindemann’s book Messer, and later that evening, she drove with the two members of Rammstein to Lorenz’s home in Brandenburg. After allegedly consuming copious amounts of alcohol, she went to bed and Lorenz joined her.
According to a report by German broadcaster Tagesschau (via DW), Stevens said: “I just let it happen to me, It was like I was switched off.” She also claimed she did not want to have sex, and admits she didn’t explicitly say “no,” but said Lorenz knew how much alcohol she had drank. Since coming forward, Stevens has signed an affidavit in court.
Additionally, a second woman, who has been given the pseudonym of Sybille Herder, told the broadcaster about an incident which allegedly took place when she was 22 in 1996. Herder claims she spent the evening drinking with Rammstein in a hotel, and said she later woke up with pain in her abdomen with Lorenz next to her. “It felt like it was ripped apart,” she stated.
“I’d had sex before in my life and I’ve had sex after in my life. I never had pain like that before and I never had pain like that after,” Herder also said in the same report. She can’t recall the incident and is unsure who caused the abdominal pain.
Lawyers for Lorenz and Lindemann have rejected all allegations in the report, claiming they contain “insufficiently substantiated facts”. Under the German legal system, both men are presumed innocent until proved otherwise.
The latest allegations arrive after hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Olympiastadion in Berlin on July 15th ahead of Rammstein’s performance. It followed an online petition calling for the show to be cancelled which was signed by over 75,000 people.
This is a developing story.
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