2018 Hamburg stabbing attack

The 2018 Hamburg stabbing attack was an attack on 12 April 2018 in the city of Hamburg, Germany. A man stabbed his ex-wife and his one-year-old daughter on a station platform.[1][2][3][4][5] Both victims died.

Attack

On the morning of 12 April 2018 the victims and the suspect met at the Stadthausbrücke station.[6] The suspected assailant, Mourtala Madou, stabbed his ex-wife, identified as Sandra P.,[7] and their one-year-old daughter in the Jungfernstieg station of Hamburg S-Bahn near the Hamburg Rathaus and the mall of Europa Passage. The child died at the scene, the mother was taken to hospital, but died there later. One of the woman's children was also present.[8] Several eyewitnesses were treated as well. The suspect called the police after the fact and was detained subsequently.[9][10] According to prosecutors, the suspect acted out of outrage because a court had denied him custody of his children the day before the stabbing.[11]

In May 2018, authorities released information indicating that the child had not been beheaded. Although the stab wound to the neck was lethal, the cause of death was another stab wound.[12][13]

Suspect and motive

According to the prosecutor's office, the suspect acted in anger and revenge, because he had lost a custody dispute days before. If he had won, he might have been allowed to stay in Germany. He had been threatening the woman for some time, and she had made a complaint to the police. He was taken into custody and is charged with two counts of murder. The mother had four more children, who were taken into the care of the children's emergency service following their mother's death.[9][10]

The suspect belonged to what is known in Hamburg as the "Lampedusa group", who came to the city via Italy in 2013, and had been granted a residence permit.[14] and he was later residing in the public refugee housing in Wandsbek.[15]

Trial

The trial started in the Hamburger Landgericht in October 2018 where the suspect was charged with double murder. At the start of the trial the suspect confessed to the deed.[16]

Reactions

A spokesman for Hamburg police, Timo Zill, called the crime "substantial" and "unusual for Hamburg".[9] Katharina Fegebank, Deputy Mayor of Hamburg stated that she was shocked about the crime: "If a child is stabbed by the hand which should protect it, this exceeds any imaginable cruelty."[17]

Many citizens of Hamburg brought flowers and candles and mourned at the place of the crime.[18]

References
  1. Woman, child dead in stabbing at German subway station, Washington Post
  2. Woman, Child Dead in Stabbing at German Subway Station, New York Times
  3. Barn och kvinna knivhöggs till döds i Hamburg, Aftonbladet.se
  4. Knife man kills baby, ex-wife in German train station, Tribune.com.pk
  5. www.20min.ch, www.20minutes.ch, 20 Minutes, 20 Min (12 April 2018). "Il tue son ex et sa fille d'un an dans une gare". 20 Minutes (in French). Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  6. "Todesdrama am Jungfernstieg: Staatsanwaltschaft gibt Details bekannt". TAG24 (in German). Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  7. ALEXANDER KISSLER (16 April 2018). "Hamburg double murder - Deadly denial of reality". Cicero (in German). Retrieved 17 April 2018. The one-year-old child's throat was cut by his father after stabbing Sandra P. in front of her new friend at Jungfernstieg station
  8. „Das Attentat ist ein persönliches Drama“, Die Welt
  9. Fokken, Silke; Ziegler, Jean-Pierre (2018-04-13). "Tödliche Messerattacke in Hamburg: Angreifer handelte aus "Wut und Rache"". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  10. Mitten in Hamburg, mitten am Tag, Süddeutsche Zeitung
  11. "Angreifer handelte aus "Wut und Rache"". Spiegel. 13 April 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  12. Online, FOCUS. "Hamburg: Messerangriff am Jungfernstieg: Neue Details bekannt". FOCUS Online (in German). Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  13. "Messerangriff am Jungfernstieg: Neue Details bekannt". www.t-online.de. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  14. In Hamburg erstochene Mutter wurde von Ex-Partner bedroht, Merkur.de
  15. Thomas Hahn (13 April 2018). "The knife attack was preceded by a custody battle". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 15 April 2018. Mourtala M., 33 , painter assistant from Niger, residing in the public refugee housing in Wandsbek, stabbed the child
  16. "Messerangriff in Hamburg: Angeklagter gesteht Tötung von Ex-Partnerin und Tochter". Spiegel Online. 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  17. Vater ersticht Ex-Frau und Kind offenbar aus „Wut und Rache“, Die Welt
  18. Nach Messerangriff am Jungfernstieg: Hamburg nimmt Anteil am Tod einer Mutter und ihrer Tochter, RTL
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