Overview
- In Aschaffenburg, judges ordered the indefinite placement of a 28-year-old Afghan national in a psychiatric hospital after a January knife attack that killed a toddler and a 41-year-old helper and wounded three others.
- The court-commissioned expert testified the man has paranoid schizophrenia with commanding hallucinations, and prosecutors, victims’ counsel, and the defense argued he was not criminally responsible and remains highly dangerous.
- Proceedings also examined a 2024 assault in a refugee facility in Alzenau, and a police officer was convicted this week for obstructing the investigation into that earlier case.
- In Mannheim, the trial of a 40-year-old who drove through a pedestrian zone on Rosenmontag began, with his lawyer saying he intended to kill, acted in a "severe emotional crisis," and had initially considered committing the act in Offenbach.
- Prosecutors cite a long-standing mental illness and no political motive; two people were killed and 14 injured, and the court could impose life imprisonment or order psychiatric confinement, with a verdict possible by December 19.