Susan Karolewski was reunited with her older brother Patrick Stuebing 20 years after escaping from their abusive home when she was adopted at the age of three in the former East Germany. 3 Susan and Patrick met again 20 years after he was adopted by another family and fell in love 3 The couple had four children together, two with severe disabilities But just six months after the death of their biological mother, the couple, then 16 and 23, described how their love for each other turned into a disturbing sexual relationship. The couple had four children, two of whom are severely disabled, with Patrick serving two prison sentences after being found guilty of incest. The couple sparked a media storm when their relationship came to light in 2001 and vowed to challenge German incest laws that made sibling sex illegal. In 2012, Patrick appealed to the Court of Human Rights in an attempt to seal their shocking union, arguing that he and Susan had a right to family life. Speaking at the time, Patrick said: “We do not feel guilty about what happened between us. “We want the law that makes incest a crime to be repealed.”
Patrick was born into a struggling family in 1977 in Leipzig and was one of eight children. At the age of three, he was raised after being stabbed by his alcoholic father. He was adopted by his foster parents at the age of 7, almost 100 miles away in the city of Portsdam. His sister, Susan, was born in 1984 on the day their parents divorced. Susan, who is mentally disabled, grew up in the same abusive household that her brother had managed to escape and was poorly educated, barely able to read and write. Some of the six brothers and sisters died after being born with a disability, while another died at the age of seven.

FORBIDDEN LOVE

The couple finally met in 2000 when Patrick sought out his biological family, but their relationship escalated just six months after their mother, Anna Marie, died of a heart attack. Susan was heavily dependent on her brother, and one reporter described her as a nail-biter. Susan was just 16 when she and Patrick, then 23, first began a troubled incest when the siblings began sharing a room. Speaking to the Mail in 2007, he said: “We both stayed up late at night to talk to each other about our hopes and dreams. Susan said: “We did not know each other as children, it’s not the same for us. “We fell in love as adults and our love is real. There is nothing we can do about it. “We were both attracted to each other and nature took us. It was so simple. What else could we do? “We followed our instinct and our heart.” In October 2001, Susan became pregnant with her first child and gave birth to a boy with severe disabilities, named Eric.
But a nurse suspected and contacted German police before Patrick was sentenced to one year suspended imprisonment for incest and Susan, 17, who is still being treated as a minor, was placed in custody. The couple continued to meet secretly and Susan had three more children, keeping her hit covered in loose clothing. A daughter Sarah, who was also born disabled, as well as Nancy and Sophia. Patrick was jailed for ten months for his second incest sentence and then for another two and a half years after being sentenced for a third time. The couple denied that their children were born disabled due to their incestuous relationship. Speaking in 2007, Patrick said: “Two of our children are disabled, but that does not necessarily have to do with the fact that we are brothers. “There are people with disabilities in our family. We had six brothers and sisters who did not survive in some cases because they were disabled.”

COURT OF APPEALS OF THE COURT

While Patrick was behind bars, Susan told reporters she could not live without him – despite conceiving a fifth child with another man. However, the mother of five gave up her rights to the child before the baby went to live with his father. Patrick underwent a vasectomy in 2004 and tried to change a German law that made incest illegal in an attempt to keep him out of prison. But in 2008 the German Federal Constitutional Court upheld the law and rejected his appeal. 3 The couple has four children along with two currently in foster care In 2012, Patrick also appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, saying the couple had a right to family life and privacy. Again the appeal was rejected after the court ruled that the couple had been treated fairly by the German authorities. The couple often visited their son Erik in his foster home and impressively claimed that if they did not have their first child, they would not have other children. Patrick said: “When you see your child being cared for by someone else when they should be with you, it’s hard for any parent to handle. “So if he is disabled, that’s even more reason why we should be able to take care of him.” Speaking about the vasectomy, he said: “There is no reason for me to be imprisoned now. I do not want to go back to prison and I know we will never leave each other voluntarily. “If anyone doubts our love, they should just see that we will not be separated.” In 2014 the German Ethics Council made a shocking turn and voted in favor of allowed incest between siblings. They claimed that the risk of disability was not enough to justify the law after examining the case of the German couple. The law still remains in Germany with incestuous sibling relationships being illegal. It is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years or a fine. The couple is believed to still be living together in East Germany.