After the death of a five-year-old girl in Berlin, the child’s 19-year-old babysitter is suspected of having killed her. The man took care of the girl and her younger siblings on a playground in the Pankow district, said a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office on Wednesday. The girl was later found injured with at least one stab wound in a nearby park. It died shortly thereafter in the hospital.
The child’s body has been autopsied since Wednesday morning. A result is not yet known. The suspect is scheduled to appear before a judge for an arrest warrant later today. So far he has not commented on the fact. “A sexual motive does not play a role according to the current situation,” said the spokeswoman. The exact background of the crime is still the subject of the investigation.
The 19-year-old man took care of the family’s four children on the playground, the spokeswoman said. He then left when he was five. As a reason, he said the child had to go to the toilet. The man then came back without the girl and said he had lost her. The alarmed police then started a large search operation with more than 100 officers and a helicopter.
A few hours later, the lifeless girl was found about 700 meters away in the Bürgerpark. The suspect was arrested in the evening near the site “on the edge of the park”. He is an acquaintance of the family, his mother and the mother of the killed girl are friends, the spokeswoman said.
A homicide squad has taken over the investigation. Police officers are still securing the traces at the child’s place of discovery on Wednesday. It is not yet clear when the autopsy of the girl’s body will take place. After the five-year-old died, people near the site set up candles, a yellow flower and a small cuddly toy were discarded.
During the night, Berlin’s governing mayor Franziska Giffey expressed her condolences to the relatives. “I’m shocked,” wrote the SPD politician on Twitter. Her thoughts are with the little girl’s parents and her loved ones. “It breaks my heart and I am deeply saddened.”