An Afghan man who killed two people, including a toddler, during a knife attack on a nursery group in a park has been ordered into psychiatric care by a German judge. A 2-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man, who attempted to protect the children, both died in the harrowing attack in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg, western Germany, in January this year.
Prosecutors said the Afghan national, identified only as Enamullah O. due to German privacy laws, carried out the attack which also left three others wounded. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and instead of a criminal trial, the hearing was a special legal procedure. The man had been deemed not criminally responsible due to his mental health condition.
According to the Reuters news agency, a court spokesperson confirmed the ruling that he had been put into psychiatric care.
Enamullah O. was 28-years-old at the time of the attack which sent shockwaves across Germany.
A 2-year-old girl from Syria, a 59-year-old teacher and a 72-year-old man also suffered injuries.
Enamullah O. was due to return to Afghanistan voluntarily after his asylum claim was rejected.
However, Enamullah O, who entered Germany in November 2002, seemingly via Bulgaria, stayed in the country where he was receiving treatment.
In January, regional police said he had “already been reported to the police several times in the past”.
An interior minister said the man had previously been detained at least three times but was released after undergoing psychiatric treatment.
The judge on Thursday said “there were a whole host of warning signs”, German newspaper BILD reported.
Enamullah O. was allegedly arrested near the scene of the kitchen knife attack on January 22.
Prosecutors said the two-year-old boy who died was stabbed five times, while the man who was killed was stabbed four times.
The prosecution, which said there was no sign of extremist or terrorist motivation behind the attack, had been looking to have Enamullah O. permanently confined to a psychiatric facility.
Defense lawyer Juergen Vongries, earlier this month, told the court that the defendant was experiencing fits of delusion and had only faint memories of voices he heard at the time of the crime.
His client had expressed regret, but could offer no explanation for why he attacked the children, the AFP news agency reported.