Germany: Psychiatric sentence for man who drove car into Berlin crowd

A court in Berlin on Friday sentenced a man to long-term psychiatric care after he drove a car into a crowd of pedestrians in the German capital last June. 

The 30-year-old’s driving license was also permanently revoked. 

An elementary schoolteacher was killed in the attack on the Kurfürstendamm street. Another teacher and 11 pupils were among the 17 people wounded, as was another teenage girl.

Suspect a paranoid schizophrenic

The prosecution agreed in its closing arguments earlier this week to settle for psychiatric internment, after a commission found the German citizen, originally from Armenia, was a longstanding paranoid schizophrenic who could not be found criminally culpable, and who had not taken his medication on the day of the crime.

Earlier in the case, the prosecution seemed to be pushing for a custodial sentence, arguing that the defendant knew his actions could claim lives and that he had gladly accepted this.

The defense had not openly supported the recommendation for psychiatric internment from the prosecution, but had also said it would not oppose or appeal the decision.

The judge Thomas Gross described the decision as necessary for the broader protection of the public, saying the case involved a seriously ill young man whose condition had been deteriorating. 

The court did classify the crimes as murder and attempted murder, but found the defendant could not be held criminally accountable for them.

The case shed little light on the defendant’s possible motive, with the 30-year-old refusing to speak for most of the trial. His defense lawyer argued no homicidal intent was evident in the case because of his client’s serious psychiatric condition.

Kurfürstendamm is a famous and busy street in western Berlin in the Charlottenburg district — a commercial, gastronomic and tourist hotspot.

msh/nm (AFP, dpa)

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