ULM, Germany (Reuters) – An Eritrean man has been sentenced to life in prison after attacking two teenage girls on their way to school in the German town of Illerkirchberg, one of them fatally.
The 27-year-old defendant was found guilty of murder and attempted murder.
Last year’s knife attack in the town of around 5,000 people which is situated west of Munich left a 14-year-old girl dead and another girl, aged 13 at the time, injured.
Prosecutors said the man had been carrying the knife on Dec. 5, 2022, with the intention of forcing officials at the local authority to issue him with an identity document.
Upon leaving his residence that morning, the man moved the weapon from his backpack to his pocket. Fearing that the girls had seen them do this, he attacked them, according to prosecutors.
The 14-year-old died in hospital from her injuries.
The defendant was arrested at his flat a short time after the attack.
(Reporting by Ayhan Uyanik, Writing by Friederike Heine, Editing by Rachel More)
