On June 8, H. crashed into a school class from Hesse and other passers-by in a small car near the Berlin Memorial Church. A 51-year-old teacher died on site, a teacher, twelve students and three other people were seriously or fatally injured. The accused committed “a nightmarish act,” said van Sweringen. “He brought great suffering to many people.”
H. suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, sees and hears things that only happen to him. “He presumably decided to take action against his demons,” the prosecutor said of the crime. He may have seen the young people as alleged pursuers against whom he wanted to take action. “He acted for an unknown reason, but with a will to destroy,” said van Sweringen.
The now 30-year-old drove his sister’s car from the apartment in which he lived with her and their mother to Kurfürstendamm on the day of the crime. At first he stopped at a traffic light as usual, but then “deliberately and in a controlled manner” drove onto the sidewalk, the prosecutor described the death drive. He hit the curb at 33 kilometers per hour, “accelerated strongly throughout” to over 45 and then reached up to 60 kilometers per hour.
He dragged some of the victims a few meters with him, including the teacher who was later killed. She was the only one who slipped forward under the car and was run over. “It’s her death sentence,” said van Sweringen. The small car only stopped in the shop window, where H. was arrested by passers-by and handed over to the police. Shortly thereafter, he was provisionally placed in a psychiatric ward.
According to reports, he has been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia for more than ten years. But he doesn’t take his medication regularly, the prosecutor explained. In addition, his mother was away before the crime and could not monitor the intake – on the day of the crime, H. had taken less than a tenth of the necessary dosage. Since further crimes are possible, he must therefore be housed permanently in a psychiatric clinic “for the protection of the general public”. The prosecutor also applied for the revocation of the driver’s license and a lifetime ban.
The five lawyers who represent the victims of the rampage as joint plaintiffs joined the public prosecutor’s claim. Society must be protected from H., said a lawyer. Others emphasized that the question of why the act was not answered satisfactorily. The 30-year-old had not admitted to the allegations in the security procedure that began in February, he also did not use the possibility of the so-called last word on Wednesday and was silent.
“The act was spontaneous and came out of nowhere,” said defender Marc Höfler in his plea. It would certainly not have taken place if H. had been properly adjusted with medication. His client must have been “in a state of extreme tension”. He will not oppose the accommodation, he added. The criminal court plans to announce its decision on Friday.
