According to a psychiatric expert, the accused in the case of the fatal attack at Frankfurt Central Station is incapable of guilt and continues to pose a threat to the general public. There is "a high probability" that Habte A. will commit further crimes, "ranging from seriousness to homicides," said the expert at the Frankfurt district court.
The accused, who is now 41 years old, is said to have pushed a boy and his mother in front of an ICE train in Frankfurt in the summer of 2019. The eight-year-old was run over by the train and died, the mother was able to save herself at the last minute. The suspect was arrested outside the train station and later placed in a psychiatric hospital.
"He attacked completely strangers," the expert said in court. Thus future groups of victims cannot be foreseen either. At the time of the crime, there was acute paranoid schizophrenia. He also spoke of a "pathological mental disorder".
Not charged with murder
The risk of committing criminal offenses is mainly caused by this disorder. "This risk can only be countered in closed psychiatric treatment in the high-security area," said the expert. The accused father of three comes from Eritrea and had lived as a recognized refugee in Switzerland before the crime.
The public prosecutor's office had not charged A. with murder because of the suspected incapacity. Instead, she applies for his permanent psychiatric placement. There is a very high probability that he will become violent again, it said. The public prosecutor accuses Habte A. of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and dangerous bodily harm in two cases.
The family of the killed boy from the Hochtaunus district appears as a joint plaintiff in the process. A now 79-year-old, whom the accused is also said to have pushed on the platform and who was injured as a result, is a joint plaintiff in the proceedings.
Icon: The mirrorbbr / dpa / AFP