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CRIME

‘Ice cold’ confession: Suspect admits to murders of child and friend

The 19-year-old suspect in a double murder case that chilled Germany this week confessed to both crimes, describing in an emotionless "ice cold" manner the frustration that led to his violence.

Published: 10 March 2017 17:37 CET
'Ice cold' confession: Suspect admits to murders of child and friend
Police in Herne outside the scene of the second murder. Photo: DPA

Police said on Friday that the suspect in the case in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia had confessed to both the murder of a nine-year-old boy and an acquaintance this week.

Marcel H., 19, was arrested on Thursday after a nationwide, days-long, intensive manhunt following the gruesome discovery of a young boy stabbed to death in a basement on Monday. Images surfaced online, including an apparent selfie of the bloody suspect with the dead boy's body, and led to someone alerting police about the crime.

The suspect turned himself in on Thursday by telling workers at a local eatery to call police. He then gave officers information to lead them to an apartment fire, where a second victim was discovered.

On Friday after a long interrogation session with the suspect, officials detailed what Marcel H. had confessed led to his violence: his frustration about potentially losing internet connection and being rejected by the German army.

“I have little doubt about what he says, but we cannot trust him in all areas,” said the leader of the Bochum homicide unit,  Klaus-Peter Lipphaus.

He told police that initially he had tried to kill himself. The suspect said he had been feeling frustrated because his application to the German army was rejected. He was also upset because his family was moving to another town, and he feared losing his internet connection.

The possibility of “not being able to play video games online” made him contemplate suicide.

But when his suicide attempt failed, Marcel H. decided to kill someone else, and that turned out to be his nine-year-old neighbour, Jaden, who he stabbed more than 50 times.

After killing Jaden, Marcel H. said at first he hid in a forest and then went to stay at the home of the second victim, who he knew through their technical college. The two had been in touch via online chats. Marcel H. and the victim played video games and ate meals together.

But then, Marcel H. decided to kill his host because the 22-year-old friend wanted to go to police about the first murder, stabbing the young man more than 60 times.

After killing the acquaintance, Marcel H. initially did not leave the apartment, staying with the dead body for two days before turning himself in on Thursday. He decided to turn himself in because he said he no other alternative, other than to kill himself.

How the suspect set fire to the apartment in which the second victim was found is not yet clear.

Police said that during the long interrogation session, Marcel H. remained “ice cold” and emotionless.

“We have had to witness a lot of misery, but such a murder case truly gets under your skin,” said Lipphaus.

Police at the moment have ruled out other possible murders by the suspect.

The suspect also told police that he did take photos of the victim, but said he did not post them online. Thus who in fact published the gruesome, bloody selfie of the suspect is not yet clear, and investigators say they are not certain whether they believe the suspect.

The uploading of photos by uninvolved parties made the investigation more difficult, and therefore prosecutors are looking into whether this may be somehow legally relevant.

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”.

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