- After the knife attack, the accused is to be committed to a psychiatric ward.
The trial for a stabbing attack on two children has begun at the Duisburg Regional Court**. The 21-year-old defendant is accused of severely injuring the nine and ten-year-old schoolchildren in February on a public street with a knife. The German is considered mentally ill and therefore not guilty. The court must determine in the trial whether he poses a danger to the public and should therefore be detained in a secure psychiatric hospital indefinitely.
The defendant was apparently already considered a high-risk person before the bloody incident. In February 2023, he is said to have threatened his mother with violent attack to a doctor. He also expressed violent fantasies in an online chat in early 2024. In March, the legal committee of the NRW state parliament held a special session to discuss the background of the case.
The two children were severely injured in the attack. After the incident, they are said to have sought refuge in a primary school, where a teacher came to their aid. The rescue services eventually took the nine-year-old girl and the one-year-older boy to the hospital, where both underwent surgery.
The knife attack in question involved the defendant severely injuring the two children. Despite being considered mentally ill and not guilty for the attack, concerns about his potential danger to the public are being examined during the trial.
