Around nine months after a rampage in Mannheim, in which a man is said to have killed two cyclists and previously killed his father in Rhineland-Palatinate, the trial against the 37-year-old began on Monday. As expected, the public was excluded immediately after the application was read out in front of the district court. The public prosecutor charged the accused with manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and dangerous bodily harm.
The so-called security procedure is about whether the man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia is permanently in the psychiatric ward. He is said to have been innocent at the time of the crime. A court spokesman was initially unable to say whether the man commented on the matter.
In June last year, the man allegedly stabbed his 69-year-old father with a kitchen knife in Ellerstadt, Rhineland-Palatinate, injuring a neighbor in the process. According to the public prosecutor, he then fled in a car towards Mannheim and is said to have intentionally rammed three cyclists.
A 71-year-old died at the scene of the accident. Her 78-year-old husband succumbed to his injuries in hospital a few weeks later. Another cyclist survived the collision with serious injuries. Then the man left his car and jumped into the Rhine. The water police saved him from drowning.
Seven days of negotiations are planned for the procedure. A verdict could come on April 3rd.
