The Afghan who killed two people with a knife in a park in Aschaffenburg, Germany, in January is not guilty(we reported). This is the result of an expert report. “The expert assumes that, from a medical point of view, the accused lacked the ability to recognise the injustice of the crime due to a psychiatric illness,” the public prosecutor’s office told the German Press Agency (“dpa”) on Tuesday.
The investigating authority would therefore like to apply for the opening of precautionary proceedings “with the aim of permanent placement in a psychiatric hospital”. Instead of serving a prison sentence, the Afghan is therefore to be accommodated in a specialised facility. This is because the expert opinion also shows “that the accused’s psychiatric illness is not only temporary and that, if it cannot be permanently cured, there is a very high probability that he will commit further offences, including highly aggressive ones”.
Enamullah O. is accused of attacking a kindergarten group in Aschaffenburg’s Schöntal Park with a knife on 22 January and murdering a two-year-old boy in the process. A 41-year-old man who tried to protect the group was also killed. Three other people were seriously injured. The Afghan was apprehended by the police shortly afterwards. Investigators subsequently found evidence of mental illness, such as medication in the 28-year-old’s room.
In the course of the investigation, it also became known that the Afghan should have already been deported – this did not happen due to a failure at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees – and should also have been in custody at the time of the offence. He was already known to the police for several offences and was also due to pay a fine of 15 daily rates for fraud by using a ticket not issued to him in February 2024.
A short time later, he was fined again after allegedly fighting in a refugee centre near Schweinfurt. Because he subsequently failed to pay the fine, the public prosecutor’s office in Schweinfurt demanded a substitute prison sentence of 40 days on 2 December. However, the Afghan did not start his sentence on 23 December as planned.
Ultimately, the fine for fraud from February 2024 helped him. In such a case, the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that the court should decide on a full sentence retrospectively. For this reason, the 28-year-old was not temporarily detained. The public prosecutor’s office spoke of a “standard procedure” – a second offence thus protected Enamullah O. from further consequences.
