A deadly knife attack against a 13-year-old boy in a Berlin park has been classified as murder in a new trial. The capital’s district court sentenced the 42-year-old defendant to life imprisonment on Tuesday.
The man who stabbed the boy, who he did not know, with a knife in the heart area after mutual insults, was sentenced to twelve years in prison for manslaughter and dangerous bodily harm in the first trial. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) overturned this decision on revision of the accessory prosecution.
The man and the boy met by chance at the end of October 2020 in a tunnel under the S-Bahn at Monbijoupark.
The 13-year-old looked at a mobile phone and almost bumped into the accused’s companion. There was a brief exchange of words.
The accused then pulled a knife and “reacted excessively to an insignificant everyday occurrence,” said the public prosecutor in his plea. The man wanted to “teach the boy a lesson”.
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The 13-year-old, who fled to Germany with his family from a refugee camp in Syria when he was seven, died in the park. In addition, the accused had seriously injured a then 22-year-old companion of the boy.
