process start
Accused before fatal car drive already conspicuous
The presiding judge at the start of the trial in the Kassel district court. photo
© Uwe Zucchi/dpa
A car drives into a group of children and kills a girl. In court, a motive of the driver initially cannot be identified. However, testimonies show that the deed probably did not come out of nowhere.
When the defendant enters the hall of the Kassel district court, he puffs so loudly that you can hear it from the spectator seats. Even when the strong man with the three-day beard sits down on the dock, he breathes clearly audibly. is he excited Or out of breath? If yes why?
The viewers don’t get an answer to that this Monday morning – just as little as to the central question of why the 31-year-old should have gone to a children’s group in Witzenhausen in northern Hesse a year ago.
The accused spoke of a “blackout”
The victims’ parents are also in the room – they appear as joint plaintiffs in the security proceedings. This should clarify whether the man will be housed permanently in a psychiatric facility. Because the public prosecutor considers him to be mentally ill and not guilty. The facts of the case are undisputed at the beginning of the process: on October 29, a year ago, a small car drove into a group of three girls in front of a kindergarten. An eight-year-old dies, a seven-year-old and an eight-year-old are seriously injured. He will not comment on this, the accused said on Monday. According to the investigators, he spoke of a “blackout” immediately after the crime – his vision went black and he couldn’t remember anything.
The public prosecutor’s office assumes intention: They accuse the Turkish citizen of, among other things, murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm. “He wanted to kill children,” says the public prosecutor when the indictment is read out. According to the police, among other things, it was the impact angle of the car that made investigators not believe it was an accident. And witnesses reported an abrupt jerking of the steering, as if the driver wanted to avoid an animal. In addition, the accused is said to have initially driven past another group of children.
According to the police, the 31-year-old stayed at the scene after the crime: “He stood opposite and stared at the car,” reports an investigator. However, the descriptions differ: one police officer tells of peaceful, cooperative behavior, another of aggressive ones. The man later freaked out in the hospital.
There was evidence of mental illness
The testimonies in court show that there were apparently warning signs before the crime: According to investigators, the man who worked as a food delivery man was known to the police. Fraud investigations, domestic violence charges, suspected arson. He is said to have scalded the arm of a former boss. His ex-girlfriend describes him as fickle and isolated in his family. He had lost his apartment, had money problems and hardly slept. “It was too much for him,” she says.
Mental illness is mentioned again and again. The word schizophrenia is mentioned several times, an exact diagnosis initially remains unclear. A visit to a therapist is said to have been limited to picking up a prescription. Because of side effects, he only reduced the medication or did not take it at all. According to investigators, a blood test after the fatal car ride showed that there were no medications, drugs or alcohol in the blood – not even the medication that he was supposed to take because of a mental illness.
More questions than answers also raise confused short messages that the accused sent to his brother the morning before the crime: “Protect yourself and tell the others that too,” he wrote, according to the court. “They” would arrest “everyone”.
Adjunct prosecutors and prosecutors try to clarify, but much remains in the dark at the start of the process. When a question comes up empty, the public prosecutor blurts out, slightly resigned: “You’re always on the desperate search for motives.”
Three more days of negotiations are scheduled until mid-December.