Wuppertal (dpa / lnw) – The trial against a 21-year-old began almost six months after the knife attack on an employee of the Wuppertal immigration office. In the security proceedings at the district court, the young man is threatened with permanent admission to a psychiatric ward. He is said to have suffered from schizophrenia at the time of the crime and was therefore not guilty. He is accused of dangerous bodily harm.
On August 12, he is said to have approached the 25-year-old employee from behind in the immigration office and stabbed her up to three centimeters deep in the back with a kitchen knife. After two stabs, he put the knife away and allowed himself to be arrested without resistance, according to the public prosecutor.
Previously, the now 21-year-old Syrian is said to have been annoyed by a refund notice from the job center. He wanted to send a signal to politicians and the judiciary not to deal with refugees in this way, it said on Wednesday.
His mother testified as a witness that her son was mentally ill. Once a week he became very aggressive. He was prescribed medication, but did not take it before the crime. At home he kicked in a glass door and hit his sister. You couldn’t talk to him anymore.
The father, who was an English teacher in Syria, also said his son’s behavior was not normal. The reclaims from the job center were actually incorrect and unjustified, as has now been shown. However, he did not expect such a reaction from his son.
The victim testified in tears that she initially thought someone was slapping her on the back. “Then I saw the knife in his hand,” she said. A colleague screamed. She locked herself in a room with her until the ambulance came and the police.
She is still unwell, she said. She still cannot work. “I just can’t get into the building. I tried, but I was shaking from head to toe. I can’t.” The process continues.
