Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Lovesick former pupil stabs teacher to death

A love-obsessed young man stabbed his former school teacher to death Friday after she rejected his advances, police announced in the city of Bremen.

Published: 19 December 2009 15:07 CET
Lovesick former pupil stabs teacher to death
A forensics officer examines the crime scene. Photo: DPA

Police and state prosecutors announced Saturday that the 21-year-old man from the town of Osterholz-Scharmbeck in Lower Saxony had stabbed the teacher, 35, more than 20 times. She died at the scene of the attack – a carpark close to her home.

Police said the man had wanted to ask “several thousand questions” of his former teacher and declared his love for her before he attacked.

A witness tried unsuccessfully to stop the attack.

The woman taught biology and chemistry at a high school in Osterholz-Scharmbeck. She had previously contacted police in January 2008 because she feared he might try to kill her.

Police investigated the man – who was considered a peculiar loner – at the time and found in his house gunpowder and fireworks. But they found nothing with which they could prosecute him.

The former pupil called the police himself after the murder and then waited to be arrested.

State prosecutor Uwe Picard said he gave his name and spoke lucidly during the call, telling police: “I’ve killed someone. I’ve put down my weapon. Please pick me up.” Police were still questioning the man on Saturday.

He had apparently planned the attack well in advance. During his interrogation, he said he had prepared several questions on various topics – including intimacy and sex – which he wanted to put to his former teacher.

The young man told police he had fixed a GPS tracking device to the teacher’s car about 10am on Friday and used it to follow her to the car park near her home where he confronted her.

He had planned to force her into a neighbouring house but this fell through when the woman resisted.

The man, who wasn’t awarded his high school certificate, had apparently been spying on the teacher for some time without her knowledge.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CRIME

Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

German authorities said Friday they had arrested a 27-year-old Syrian man who allegedly planned an Islamist attack on army soldiers using two machetes in Bavaria.

Published: 13 September 2024 11:17 CEST
Germany arrests Syrian man accused of plotting to kill soldiers

The suspect, an “alleged follower of a radical Islamic ideology”, was arrested on Thursday on charges of planning “a serious act of violence endangering the state”.

The man had acquired two heavy knives “around 40 centimetres (more than one foot) in length” in recent days, prosecutors in Munich said.

He planned to “attack Bundeswehr soldiers” in the city of Hof in northern Bavaria during their lunch break, aiming “to kill as many of them as possible”, prosecutors said.

“The accused wanted to attract attention and create a feeling of insecurity among the population,” they said.

German security services have been on high alert over the threat of Islamist attacks, in particular since the Gaza war erupted on October 7th with the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Police shot dead a man in Munich this month after he opened fire on officers in what was being treated as a suspected “terrorist attack” on the Israeli consulate in Munich.

The shootout fell on the anniversary of the kidnap and killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by Palestinian militants.

The 18-year-old suspect had previously been investigated by authorities in his home country Austria on suspicion of links to terrorism but the case had been dropped.

The incident capped a string of attacks in Germany, which have stirred a sense of insecurity in Germany and fed a bitter debate of immigration.

Three people were killed last month in a suspected Islamist stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen.

READ ALSO: ‘Ban asylum seekers’ – How Germany is reacting to Solingen attack

The suspect in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, was a Syrian man who had been slated for deportation from Germany.

A federal interior ministry spokesman said if an Islamist motive was confirmed in the latest foiled attack, it would be “further evidence of the high threat posed by Islamist terrorism in Germany, which was recently demonstrated by the serious crimes in Mannheim and the attack in Solingen, but also by acts that were fortunately prevented by the timely intervention of the security authorities”.

The Solingen stabbing followed a knife attack in the city of Mannheim in May, which left a policeman dead, and which had also been linked to Islamism by officials.

Germany has responded to the attacks by taking steps to tighten immigration controls and knife laws.

READ ALSO: Debt, migration and the far-right – the big challenges facing Germany this autumn

The government has announced new checks along all of its borders and promised to speed up deportations of migrants who have no right to stay in Germany.

The number of people considered Islamist extremists in Germany fell slightly from 27,480 in 2022 to 27,200 last year, according to a report from the federal domestic intelligence agency.

But Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned in August that “the threat posed by Islamist terrorism remains high”.

SHOW COMMENTS