Baden-Württemberg: Trial begins after fatal knife attack on neighbor

Baden-Wurttemberg
Trial begins after fatal knife attack on neighbor

11.09.2024, 03:35

A man who is suspected of being mentally ill is said to have killed his 70-year-old neighbor in Mannheim with a knife and hammer. He is then said to have attacked a couple in the same house.

Mannheim (dpa/lsw) – A man who is alleged to have been mentally ill will appear before the Mannheim Regional Court from Wednesday (9 a.m.) on suspicion of killing his neighbor with a knife and hammer. The now 43-year-old is also alleged to have attacked a couple in the same house, the court announced on the basis of the indictment.

The public prosecutor's office therefore assumes that the German suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and that the crimes began when his criminal responsibility had significantly improved. It has therefore requested that he be placed in a psychiatric hospital.

According to the court, the man from Mannheim is said to have rung the doorbell of his 70-year-old neighbor shortly before Christmas 2023. He is said to have then attacked her with a knife and then with a hammer. The woman died of her injuries. On the same day, the defendant is said to have climbed through a window into another apartment in the same building and attacked a couple there with a knife.