Würzburg attacker still poses a danger: doctor
July 22, 2022
A German court on Friday heard that the man who allegedly killed three people and injured nine others in the southern central city of Würzburg last summer is mentally ill and still very dangerous if he does not undergo successful treatment.
Somali national Jibril A., who was first registered in Germany at the height of the 2015 migrant crisis, was arrested shortly after the stabbings on June 25, 2021.
The attacks, which started in a department store, continued on one of the main shopping streets in the city center.
Attacker thought secret services were on his trail
"There is no doubt that the accused suffers from paranoid schizophrenia," psychiatrist Hans-Peter Volz told the court in Estenfeld near Würzburg.
Volz said on the day of the attacks that June, Jibril A. was "acutely delusional." He was hearing voices and believed he was being followed by secret services.
"There is a high probability that we have a person in front of us [...] who felt controlled," Volz said. "He was sure he was doing the right thing [by carrying out the attacks] and had no choice but to do it."
Volz spoke of a low likelihood that the accused will recover from his illness.
"Even with very good treatment, the risk that the subject will become psychotic again is not zero," added the medical director of the Werneck Castle Hospital for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine.
Suspect not criminally liable
Prosecutors have agreed that the accused was not criminally liable in the case due to his psychiatric illness.
That means the court is following a special legal procedure for such cases and that the man is set to be transferred to a hospital after the proceedings are concluded.
His guilt in the case is considered to have been proven.
Shortly after the stabbings, the Munich Prosecutor's office and Bavarian police said an Islamic terrorism motive was "likely."
However, the police investigation did not reveal any indications that the man had any extremist beliefs.
The case before the Würzburg Regional Court is taking place in a nearby hall because there is not enough space for a COVID-compliant trial at the usual court building.
Accused moved to Germany from Italy
Jibril A. first arrived in Italy before settling for several years in Saxony. He moved to Würzburg, in the state of Bavaria, in 2019.
The accused had attracted attention several times because of psychological problems, authorities said.
In January last year, he pulled a knife on several people at a refugee center.
Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.
Material from dpa news agency contributed to this report.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery