Cannibalism no longer shocking in Germany after second case in decade

The would-be "chef" freely admits that he killed his human "long pig".

The killer, known only as Detlef G, a 55-year-old chief inspector with the Saxony state police, has reportedly told investigators that he met his victim through a cannibalism website that hooks up those who want to dine on human flesh with those hoping to be eaten.

He has reportedly confessed to stabbing the 59-year-old German businessman in the neck. He admits he butchered the body and buried the pieces around his bed and breakfast near the German border with the Czech Republic.

But, in his defence, he says he did not eat his victim, not any part of the man that Dresden police have identified as Wojciech S. Detlef G goes on to note that he did not use his victim sexually, either. He just killed him. And he has told police he killed him only because Wojciech S came to him asking to be killed, in just the manner he carried out the act.

Whether consent to be killed is a viable defence remains to be seen. But it is not the first time such a defence has been tried in Germany. And, in the end, the fact such gruesome facts are not new or even particularly surprising to Germans, who witnessed a similar case a decade ago, may be the most shocking bit of this case.

In 2004, another German cannibal faced trial for having killed a man, one who noted, on a videotape that the victim and killer made together, that being eaten by another human was the fulfilment of a dream.

In that case, Armin Meiwes, 42, was first sentenced to eight- and-a-half years in prison for manslaughter in the 2001 death of Bernd-Jurgen Brandes, 43, a successful software engineer from Berlin. Later, he was sentenced to life in prison, and must serve at least 15 years.