A 14-year-old dies after a knife attack in Illerkirchberg, her 13-year-old friend survives with serious injuries. Now a 27-year-old refugee from Eritrea is on trial in Ulm.
Ulm – Their paths accidentally crossed on December 5th, a 14-year-old did not survive, her friend was seriously injured: the knife attack in Baden-Württemberg Illerkirchberg made headlines nationwide, the trial against the alleged perpetrator before the district court in Ulm begins today.
The public prosecutor accuses the 27-year-old refugee from Eritrea of murder and attempted murder with dangerous bodily harm.
“Wrong place at the wrong time”
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the man wanted to use a knife to force identification papers from the district office on the day of the crime. When he left his house, the two girls walked past it. They were on their way to school. The defendant is said to have assumed that they had seen the knife. He then spontaneously decided to kill the students. He wanted to prevent the two from calling the police and thwarting his plan.
“The unbearable thing about it is just this coincidence: in the wrong place at the wrong time,” says Illerkirchberg’s Mayor Markus Häußler (independent). The community in the Alb-Donau district with around 5,000 inhabitants does not rest even around six months after the crime.
Lots of reconnaissance after the fact
“Having to react at such a time, to keep the negative effects as low as possible – that was very intense,” says Häußler. After the fact, a lot of educational work was done on the general security situation, fears were talked about and they were taken seriously. A self-protection seminar was also subsidized. “We’re still working on it,” emphasizes the 37-year-old.
The crime happened in front of a refugee camp. In the meantime it has been demolished, for which the father of the dead spoke out. How the square is designed is taken care of by the citizens and the municipal council, explains Häußler. A meadow will be sown temporarily. “In the future, something beautiful should be created there.”