investigations are ongoing
Babysitter after the death of a five-year-old in custody – dismay in Berlin: “It breaks my heart”
People lit candles to commemorate the five-year-old who was killed in the Bürgerpark in Berlin-Pankow
© Paul Zinken / DPA
Just hours after she was reported missing, a five-year-old is found dead in Berlin-Pankow. The police arrested a 19-year-old friend of the mother’s, he was taken into custody on suspicion of manslaughter. Despite the quick success of the investigation, the dismay at the crime is great.
What words do you find when you are speechless? “It breaks my heart and I’m deeply sad,” Berlin’s governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) tries to express during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday what many people in her city are likely to feel.
A five-year-old girl is dead. A passer-by discovered her lifeless late Tuesday afternoon in the Bürgerpark Pankow, a spacious green area in the north of the capital. Alarmed rescue workers cannot save the child. He succumbed to his severe injuries in the hospital. It quickly becomes clear: the girl was killed.
The suspect was the babysitter of the girl who was killed
“It had injuries where you have to assume that it was a homicide,” says the police spokesman. At least one stab wound. And he says: “In this context, a suspect has already been arrested.” The arrest took place just a few minutes after the girl was found “on the edge of the park”.
The suspect is said to be a 19-year-old. A day after the crime, the investigators express a horrific suspicion: the young man was the girl’s babysitter, a friend of the mother’s.
After finding the girl, the police move out to the Bürgerpark Pankow, normally a green oasis in the hustle and bustle of the big city, with large cutlery. On Tuesday evening, mobile searchlights illuminate part of the park, while warning tape blocks access. Police vans are parked on the edge of the park, police officers are turning every square centimeter around the site in search of clues. A drone flies over the area for overview shots. The fourth murder commission of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office takes over the case, officials question possible witnesses.
The investigators want to know: what happened on Tuesday afternoon? And why would a 19-year-old possibly kill a five-year-old? There are only a few answers on Tuesday – at least not for the public.
Large-scale police operation in Berlin-Pankow
One thing is clear: the police are looking for the girl for almost three hours. Around 100 officers are in action in the search, reports the Berlin-Brandenburg radio station, and a helicopter also rises. “In the afternoon a police officer was in the store and asked if we had seen a man with a little girl,” the employee of a restaurant in the area later told a reporter from the DPA news agency.
The next day, investigators report that the 19-year-old was supposed to take care of the girl and her family of three siblings and was with them on the playground. He then went away with the five-year-old, allegedly to the toilet. He asked other people to take care of the other three children before returning a little later – without the five-year-old. He claimed to have lost her. The girl is reported missing and the police begin their search. At 5:40 p.m., a passer-by made the gruesome discovery in a bush.
The girl’s body will be examined by the coroner’s office on Wednesday morning. The report is not yet available, a spokesman for the public prosecutor said in the afternoon star. The exact cause of death has not yet been determined.
The 19-year-old suspect is meanwhile before the magistrate. The young man is the last to see the girl before the crime. So is he the culprit? The public prosecutor’s office did not reveal whether he would comment on the allegation. He comes into custody on Wednesday evening, there is an urgent suspicion. The arrest warrant is for manslaughter. The investigators cannot yet say anything about a possible motive for the bloody deed, only one thing can be ruled out for the time being: a sexual background apparently does not play a role. The investigations of the fourth murder commission continue, and the murder weapon has not yet been found.
As early as Tuesday evening, mourners laid flowers at the Bürgerpark Pankow, lit candles and commemorated the five-year-olds who died. A small teddy bear is squatting on the sidewalk. The day after, people kept stopping near the site, reporters report. Some have tears in their eyes.
Sources: Berlin police, Attorney General Berlin, Franziska Giffey, Radio Berlin-Brandenburg, News agencies DPA and AFP