Germany: Aschaffenburg knife attack suspect goes on trial
· DWA rejected asylum seeker with mental health issues attacked a group of pre-schoolers in a park in January, killing and injuring kids and adults. The crime, and the perpetrator's status, have fueled migration debate.
About nine months after a deadly knife attack on a group of nursery school children in Bavaria, court proceedings have begun to determine whether the suspect can be held criminally responsible.
The Aschaffenburg District Court is examining whether Enamullah O., a 28-year-old Afghan man who is believed to suffer from mental illness, was legally sane at the time of the January 22, 2025, attack.
Prosecutors, citing a forensic-psychiatric report suggesting insanity, are seeking his permanent confinement in a psychiatric hospital.
Prosecutors say there is no indication the man had extremist or terrorist motivations.
Afghan man faces murder and other counts for brutal knife attack on kids
According to investigators, the suspect used a 30-centimeter-long kitchen knife in his attack on a group of children in the city of Aschaffenburg's Schöntal Park.
A two-year-old Moroccan boy was fatally wounded, and a 41-year-old German man who tried to help was killed as well.
The attacker also allegedly stabbed a two-year-old Syrian girl and a 73-year-old German man, both of whom survived.
A 59-year-old teacher broke her arm during the assault.
The suspect, known to police for previous assaults, property damage, and resisting officers, fled the scene but was arrested near a set of railway tracks about 12 minutes after the first emergency call went out. A blood-stained knife was found nearby.
Prosecutors have charged Enamullah O. with murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, threats, and multiple counts of bodily harm.
Current court proceedings will also cover a separate incident from August 2024 at a refugee shelter where Enamullah O. allegedly strangled then injured a female resident with a knife.
Six court sessions are scheduled through October 30.
Suspect evaded deportation and had a history with police
German authorities say Enamullah O. pledged to voluntarily self-deport in December after his asylum application was rejected but ultimately failed to do so. Germany had previously tried to deport him to Bulgaria — where he first arrived in Europe — in 2023, but was unsuccessful.
The shocking January attack came just one month before Germany's federal elections. Along with other violent attacks it, too, influenced the campaign's political debate.
The crime fueled support for the far-right, anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and pushed then candidate Friedrich Merz to promise a crackdown on migration and a tightening of borders "from day one" if elected, as support for a tougher approach to immigration grew.
Merz and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt have pursued a more robust approach to migration since taking office, especially in regard to resuming deportation flights to countries like Syria and Afghanistan, which had been previously designated unsafe countries of origin and therefore not fit for repatriations but are now cosidered safe.
Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar