https://www.bz-berlin.de/meinung/ko...ie-neukoellner-schulmaedchen-erstechen-wollte
On May 3, 38-year-old Berliner Berhan S. entered the schoolyard of the Neukölln Evangelical School. He stabbed a seven-year-old and an eight-year-old girl with a kitchen knife. The children were playing table tennis. He stabbed one girl in the neck and the other in the chest. The older one narrowly escaped death, both were saved.
This Wednesday, the public prosecutor said that Berhan S. will not be charged. A “preliminary psychiatric report” revealed that he “was in a psychotic state at the time of the crime due to a mental illness.” He was “not guilty” and was housed in a psychiatric ward.
Berhan S. reported to investigators that he “heard voices ordering him to kill the girls.” Is that all we know about this man? The judiciary, the church, politicians and the media (with the exception of the B.Z.) do not even mention his name to this day.
There would be a lot to report from the history of Berhan S. In August 2009, he stabbed his partner Sonja S. (then 24) in Kreuzberg. Sonja’s mother, Gürsel S., said that Berhan came from a strictly Islamic Turkish family and had been tormenting her daughter for a long time.
Berhan’s family threatened to murder her (Gürsel) and Sonja if they went to the police. On September 1, 2009, the “Tagesspiegel” reported from Berhan’s police file: “Eleven reports of threats, multiple coercion, bodily harm and insults.”
The perpetrator had a problem with violence and the list of his crimes is long. Even if he now claims to have heard voices and is therefore said to be innocent, this history is important.
Many questions remain unanswered: Was Berhan S. observed by the police? What role does his religious indoctrination play? Why did he hear his voices outside a Christian school? And this question has to be asked again and again: Where is the line between mental illness and religious madness?
When the Afghan Abdul Malik A. (29) wanted to behead the resident Regina G. in Wilmersdorf on September 4, 2021, he was Islamist indoctrinated. The court certified him “paranoid schizophrenia” and denied him any criminal responsibility.
When the Syrian Abdalrahman A. (27) stabbed three fellow passengers on the ICE near Passau on November 6, 2021, he was first declared mentally ill. Doctors later found him guilty and he was convicted.
The experts find it difficult to distinguish between religious delusion and mental illness.
Berhan S. is handed over to psychiatry. There is no trial and therefore no processing in court. And so we will never know how the double attempted murder of the children could have happened.
On May 3, 38-year-old Berliner Berhan S. entered the schoolyard of the Neukölln Evangelical School. He stabbed a seven-year-old and an eight-year-old girl with a kitchen knife. The children were playing table tennis. He stabbed one girl in the neck and the other in the chest. The older one narrowly escaped death, both were saved.
This Wednesday, the public prosecutor said that Berhan S. will not be charged. A “preliminary psychiatric report” revealed that he “was in a psychotic state at the time of the crime due to a mental illness.” He was “not guilty” and was housed in a psychiatric ward.
Berhan S. reported to investigators that he “heard voices ordering him to kill the girls.” Is that all we know about this man? The judiciary, the church, politicians and the media (with the exception of the B.Z.) do not even mention his name to this day.
There would be a lot to report from the history of Berhan S. In August 2009, he stabbed his partner Sonja S. (then 24) in Kreuzberg. Sonja’s mother, Gürsel S., said that Berhan came from a strictly Islamic Turkish family and had been tormenting her daughter for a long time.
Berhan’s family threatened to murder her (Gürsel) and Sonja if they went to the police. On September 1, 2009, the “Tagesspiegel” reported from Berhan’s police file: “Eleven reports of threats, multiple coercion, bodily harm and insults.”
The perpetrator had a problem with violence and the list of his crimes is long. Even if he now claims to have heard voices and is therefore said to be innocent, this history is important.
Many questions remain unanswered: Was Berhan S. observed by the police? What role does his religious indoctrination play? Why did he hear his voices outside a Christian school? And this question has to be asked again and again: Where is the line between mental illness and religious madness?
When the Afghan Abdul Malik A. (29) wanted to behead the resident Regina G. in Wilmersdorf on September 4, 2021, he was Islamist indoctrinated. The court certified him “paranoid schizophrenia” and denied him any criminal responsibility.
When the Syrian Abdalrahman A. (27) stabbed three fellow passengers on the ICE near Passau on November 6, 2021, he was first declared mentally ill. Doctors later found him guilty and he was convicted.
The experts find it difficult to distinguish between religious delusion and mental illness.
Berhan S. is handed over to psychiatry. There is no trial and therefore no processing in court. And so we will never know how the double attempted murder of the children could have happened.
