50-day search for suspected cannibal killer of German adventurer ends after Pacific Islander gives himself up
- Henri Haiti turned up at father’s home and told him to call police
- Had built makeshift camps and stolen food as he evaded officers
- Accused of killing Stefan Ramin on South Sea island of Nuku Hiva
- Due to face magistrates today on murder and sexual assault charges
- Speculation rife that Haiti also ate the round-the-world tourist
The suspected cannibal killer of a German adventurer whose bones and teeth were found in the ashes of a fire on a South Sea island has given himself up.
After a 50-day dragnet for Henri Haiti, 31, he turned up at his father’s home and told him to call the authorities.
‘My son is at home, he wants to surrender,’ his father said in a phone call to police.
Charged: Henri Haiti, pictured with a tattoo depicting a warrior from the Kaioi tribe who were known for eating their victims, was due to face magistrates today accused of murdering German adventurer Stefan Ramin on a South Sea island
Officers, joined by soldiers, found traces of makeshift camps in the island forests during his time on the run, but he always stayed one step ahead of them.
They found several buildings which he broke into to steal food.
‘In the end, the pressure of the hunt was too much for him,’ said Jose Thorel, the local prosecutor.
He will appear before magistrates accused of murder and sexual assault before the end of the day on Wednesday.
Haiti is accused of killing around-the-world sailor Stefan Ramin, 41, after he docked his yacht in a beautiful bay on the island of Nuku Hiva in French Polynesia.
World tour: Mr Ramin and girlfriend Heike Dorsch at one of the idyllic locations they visited before his death.Ms Dorsch claims Haiti also tried to rape her
Although authorities denied it was cannibalism in a bid to preserve the tourism industry, speculation was rife that Haiti – who has a tattoo of a cannibal warrior on his chest – had indeed eaten parts of his victim in a bizarre ritual.
Heike Dorsch, 37, the girlfriend of Mr Ramin who was accompanying him on his global yacht voyage, claimed Haiti tried to lure her into the forest and then attempted to rape her before she made good her escape.She is now back in Germany.
The manhunt for Haiti, a sometime guide and hunter on the island, began back on October 9 when Ms Dorsch went to police after her ordeal.
She said Mr Ramin went into the forest to hunt goats with Haiti and never returned.
She said he returned alone to tell her there had been ‘an accident’ in the forest and that she should go with him.
Roughing it: Haiti spent time in makeshift camps and stole food while on the run from the police and soldiers for 50 days.He eventually handed himself in
‘In the evening, he came back alone and said Stefan needed help,’ said Miss Dorsch. ‘I grabbed a torch, followed him into the forest.
‘Suddenly he threatened me.He held a gun up to my nose and said in French; Va à mourire’ – you will die.
‘I went for the weapon, grabbed the rifle barrel and shoved it high into the air shouting: “No, I am not going to die.”‘
She said a struggle followed in which he chained her up.she said she was certain he was going to rape her.
She said she summoned all her strength to work the chains loose.
‘It was pitch black,’ she said. ‘I got free and ran and ran, lost my shoes.Then I heard the sea. I ran into the water, dived into the waves and swam to the only ship that was in the bay near ours.’
Fateful journey: Mr Ramin and Ms Dorsch began their travels in 2008 before anchoring their yacht in Nuku Hiva in French Polynesia earlier this year
The Dutch occupants aboard the boat pulled her to safety and called the police.The remains of Stefan’s body, bones and teeth were found in a fire in the woods the next day.
Mr Ramin, from the small town of Haselau in north-west Germany, was on a round-the-world trip with his lover of 17 years, when they anchored off the coast of the Polynesian island on September 16.
He was a fanatical sailor and a former business adviser.He kept a regular blog of his trip, which began in 2008, and one of his last entries read: ‘I seek freedom and adventures’.
He bought his catamaran Baju in Turkey and had planned to spend the next two years island-hopping in the South Pacific.
On Facebook, he listed his interests as ‘travelling, slot online blue water sailing, kiting, kitesurfing, windsurfing, surfing, diving…actually everything which one can do on and under the water’.