Jerome Boateng under investigation for aggravated assault against former partner

The public prosecutor of Munich has filed charges of aggravated assault (“dangerous bodily harm,” gefährliche Körperverletzung) with the district court against Bayern Munich’s veteran center-back Jerome Boateng (SZ). The charges concern potentially an incident of assault by Boateng against his former partner and longtime fiancée, Sherin Senler, the mother of his twin daughters.

A spokeswoman of the public prosecutor’s office told SZ,

The public prosecutor’s office no. 1 of Munich has been conducting proceedings against Jerome Boateng for aggravated assault since fall 2018 and, after extensive investigations, brought charges before the district court of Munich on February 11, 2019. The police are moreover currently investigating a further case of suspected assault against the same injured party.

In German criminal law, once a public prosecutor submits charges, an Anklage, the court must decide whether to admit the charges. The court has thus far not yet ruled on the case. It is currently in “intermediary proceedings” (Zwischenverfahren), while further investigations are being conducted at the order of the judge.

The public prosecutor’s office could not explain why the judge had not yet allowed their case to proceed: “We cannot understand why the court has waited so long with its decision over the charges,” they said.

Boateng’s representatives said that the case is a private affair based on the unproven claims of a third party — that would suggest someone other than Senler herself is behind the accusations, but no other details are known.

Boateng and Senler’s long-term relationship has had its share of ups and downs. Boateng recently revealed that he also has a three-year-old son by another woman. He explained that the child was the product of a relationship at a time when he and Senler were seeing other people. The newspapers’ description of Senler as Boateng’s “ex-partner” suggest that they have split again.