2018 Hamburg stabbing attack

The 2018 Hamburg stabbing attack was an attack on 12 April 2018 in the city of Hamburg, Germany. The assailant stabbed his ex-wife and his one year old daughter on a station platform.[1][2][3][4][5] Both victims died.

Attack

On the morning of 12 April 2018 the assailant, Mourtala Madou, a 33-year-old man from Niger, stabbed his German ex-wife, identified as Sandra P.,[6] and beheaded their one year old daughter in the Jungfernstieg station of Hamburg S-Bahn near the Hamburg Rathaus and the mall of Europa Passage. The child died at the scene, the mother was taken to hospital, but died there later. A three year old son of the woman was present as well,[7], but not her other three children, aged 7, 8, and 15.[8] Several eye witnesses were treated as well. Another man was also at the scene, possibly the new partner of the victim, he was considered a witness by the police. The perpetrator called the police after committing the crime and was detained subsequently.[9][10]

Perpetrator and motive

According to the prosecutor's office, the perpetrator acted in anger and revenge, because he had lost a custody dispute days before. If he had won, he might have been allowed to stay in Germany. He had been threatening the woman for some time, and she had made a complaint to the police. He was taken into custody and is charged with two counts of murder. The mother had four more children, children's emergency service is taking care of them.[9][10]

The assailant belonged to what is known in Hamburg as the "Lampedusa group",[11] who came to the city via Italy in 2013. He did not start an asylum process in Hamburg as he feared being deported to Italy where he had already applied for asylum. Many in the Lampedusa group came to the St Pauli church and Mourtala M. was among those. His application for asylum was rejected,[11] and he was later residing in the public refugee housing in Wandsbek.[12]

Reactions

A spokesman for Hamburg police, Timo Zill, called the crime "substantial" and "unusual for Hamburg". The perpetrator acted with "massive" violence.[9] Katharina Fegebank, Second Mayor of Hamburg stated that she was shocked about the crime: "If a child is stabbed by the hand which should protect it, this exceeds any imaginable cruelty."[13]

Many citizens of Hamburg brought flowers and candles and mourned at the place of the crime.[14]

Similar cases

The Münchner Merkur noted similarities between this case and two others: one in which a 40-year-old man was accused of having stabbed his ex-wife in Kiel with 23 knife thrusts on the street in 2017. In Teningen near Freiburg.Teningen, a 53-year-old German of Algerian descent was accused of having stabbed his ex-girlfriend and his young son in front of an underground car park, also during 2017.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Woman, child dead in stabbing at German subway station, Washington Post
  2. ↑ Woman, Child Dead in Stabbing at German Subway Station, New York Times
  3. ↑ Barn och kvinna knivhöggs till döds i Hamburg, Aftonbladet.se
  4. ↑ Knife man kills baby, ex-wife in German train station, Tribune.com.pk
  5. ↑ Il tue son ex et sa fille d'un an dans une gare, 20min.ch
  6. ↑ ALEXANDER KISSLER (16 April 2018). "Hamburg double murder - Deadly denial of reality". Cicero (in German). Retrieved 17 April 2018. The one-year-old child's throat was cut by his father after stabbing Sandra P. in front of her new friend at Jungfernstieg station
  7. ↑ „Das Attentat ist ein persönliches Drama“, Die Welt
  8. ↑ "What will happen to the children of the victim?". Bild (in German). 13 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018. For four boys (3, 7, 8 and 15) from Hamburg-Billstedt, the world has changed forever.
  9. 1 2 3 Angreifer handelte aus "Wut und Rache", Der Spiegel
  10. 1 2 Mitten in Hamburg, mitten am Tag, Süddeutsche Zeitung
  11. 1 2 3 In Hamburg erstochene Mutter wurde von Ex-Partner bedroht, Merkur.de
  12. ↑ Thomas Hahn (13 April 2018). "The knife attack was preceded by a custody battle". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 15 April 2018. Mourtala M., 33 , painter assistant from Niger, residing in the public refugee housing in Wandsbek, stabbed the child
  13. ↑ Vater ersticht Ex-Frau und Kind offenbar aus „Wut und Rache“, Die Welt
  14. ↑ Nach Messerangriff am Jungfernstieg: Hamburg nimmt Anteil am Tod einer Mutter und ihrer Tochter, RTL
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