EXCLUSIVE – Revealed: First photo of girl, ten, raped by burglar and murdered by boy, 11, at German care home – as her father reveals she had pleaded to be returned to her family

This is the first image of the ten-year-old girl whose murder in a children’s home, allegedly by a fellow child resident, has shocked Germany.

The image emerged when little Lena’s father spoke about his loss for the first time.

Lena was found strangled in the boys’ room by the facility’s staff twelve hours after her death and, astonishingly, after being raped by an opportunistic burglar who broke in through an open bathroom window.

Speaking to MailOnline, Lena’s father, who asked to be identified only as Werner, expressed outrage at how Daniel Troger, the 25-year-old father of two, had been able to break in with apparent ease.

And he lashed out at authorities for allowing the boy, who had a history of violence and had attacked other residents with a baseball bat, to remain at the facility.

Germany is reeling from the atrocity that took place in April at the St. Josef children’s home in the picturesque Bavarian town of Wunsiedel, 90 minutes north of Nuremberg.

Speaking to MailOnline at his home in the village of Mantel, civil servant Werner, who has been on sick leave since the death of his daughter, said: ‘I just don’t understand how this can happen. How could this man enter the house and attack my daughter?

‘The place must be safe. What did the staff do that evening? Why was the window open? The children were supposed to be safe there, but that was clearly not the case.

‘But the other big question is: why was this boy there in the first place? I read that he had a history of violence and attacked other children there, so why was he there and not in a good facility with trained staff?

‘There is so much more that the police and authorities should tell me, but they don’t. I feel like I’m in the dark here and that my daughter is the victim.’

Lena, a gifted musician, swimmer and gymnast, had been in the house since November following a custody battle between Werner and his former wife of 12 years, Regina.

Their daughter had been temporarily placed in the home, but Werner told MailOnline that he had successfully applied for her to go on holiday with him to the Canary Islands during this year’s Easter holidays.

Werner said: ‘The day before she was to come out they said I couldn’t take her with me and that she had to stay there.

‘I still don’t know why they said that, but if she had been allowed to come with me, as they initially said, she would still be there. That’s why I’m so angry.’

Werner added: “I have spoken to the police numerous times and I have seen that this man has been accused of sexually assaulting my daughter and that the boy killed her, but he is too young to face justice.

“Lena hated it in that house. She always cried about it when I saw her and said she wanted to be with me or my ex-wife, but they wouldn’t let her.

‘The best solution would have been for her to stay with one of us, if that had happened she would still be alive, that’s why I’m so angry.

“I got to see her for two hours once a month, and so did my wife, and every time I saw Lena she would always cry that she wasn’t supposed to be there.

“She said one of the other kids was having problems and she was bullying her, I can only assume it was this 11 year old boy. We wanted joint custody, but the court didn’t give us that. I still don’t know why.’

When asked to describe Lena, Werner blinked back tears and said, “How can I have only one memory of her?” I have many memories of her, all wonderful, all good. She was my first and only child, I loved her dearly.

“She was a good girl. She didn’t deserve this and had dreams for the future, just like any other girl. She was good at swimming; she was a musician and played the piano and she loved playing the piano and drums.

‘She loved to go horse riding and we spent many happy times together, and now all I have are memories.’

Werner added: ‘The police say the case is now closed because the boy cannot get justice because he is under 14 years old and this other man will stand trial, but for me the case is not closed yet. It is the authorities who are also to blame here.

‘If Lena had been admitted to the home, she would still be here, she should have stayed with me or my wife.

“But I would also like to know why the window was open for this man to come in and why he was there in the first place? What did he expect to steal from a children’s home? Is there information that I am not being told?

‘I have not yet taken any action against the home and the authorities who run it, but I am thinking about it.’

In a further shocking revelation, it has emerged that Troger and the boy drank beer and watched pornography together in the house in the hours before Lena was attacked and then murdered.

But because he is under the age of criminal responsibility in Germany, which is 14, he is not punished and has since been transferred to another facility elsewhere in the country.

Bin man Troger was arrested by police three weeks after the murder when he showed up for duty at the local depot where he works in Wunsiedel.

Police linked him to the crime through DNA found at the scene and also through his cell phone picked up in the building.

Troger – who is married with two young children and is married to wife Cassandra – has since been charged with rape, burglary and arson.

He is suspected of breaking into five construction containers in the past year and stealing construction equipment worth more than £12,000.

On his now-deleted Facebook page, he describes himself as a “proud father” and that “family is the most important thing in the world,” alongside photos of him, his wife and children.

He worked as a garbage collector in Wunsiedel and lived in nearby Thiersheim, where locals remember him as a ‘loner’.

A neighbor said: ‘He didn’t really hang out with anyone much. They moved here from another part of Germany a few years ago.

‘I know they have a child who is about 18 months old and an older child who is seven, as she is in the same year at school as my daughter.

“He and the woman must have had the children very young, as she could not have been older than 25.”

When MailOnline knocked on the door of the pastel blue-painted house near the village’s football field, there was no answer, but there was a trampoline and swings in the garden.

On her TikTok page, Cassandra has posted videos of the children playing in the yard, but there are no images of her husband.

Kader Catal, who went to school with Troger, told MailOnline: ‘I was shocked when I saw the news and it gave me goosebumps because I knew him when he was younger.

‘It left a deep impression on me because of what happened to the girl and because I know he has children of his own.

‘To be honest, he was a loner when I knew him at school and quite strange too. I can’t believe someone I knew who has children of their own did something like this.”

A spokesman for the local prosecutor said: ‘An 11-year-old boy is suspected of murder and a 25-year-old man has been charged with rape, burglary and arson.

‘There is no evidence that the man took part in the murder of the ten-year-old girl, but that the eleven-year-old boy killed the girl after the man left the institution, following a dispute between the two.

“Due to the boy’s criminal immaturity, no criminal proceedings can be initiated against him and he has been taken into custody by the responsible authorities.

‘The older man is still in custody and confessed to an acquaintance during the first interrogation.

“Investigations into possible dereliction of duty by the authorities responsible for the children’s daring are still ongoing.”