Lausitzer Rundschau reported that the Fugmanns had hired Mohammad to give them a competitive edge over other salons, and to that end had paraded him to the press to virtue-signal.
The Fugmanns had been cashing in on the refugee crisis with “Syrian refugees accommodated at their apartments”.
The owner of a hair and cosmetics salon in the district town of Elbe Elster, described the attack by a Syrian armed with a razor blade in June 2017.
The court had followed the attorney’s request for a private hearing. Lawyer Claudia Napiralski pointed out in her reasoning for the request that her client suffered from constant panic attacks since the knife attack which caused cut wounds in the neck, breasts and stomach, and from post traumatic stress syndrome.
She also said that Ilona Fugmann had emails in which the defendant had admitted consuming drugs and an affair with his boss, to the police. All this, according to the lawyer, had the potential to harm her client.
Ilona’s husband Michael told the media representatives in the waiting room that together with his wife, and with the help of a German refugee aid organisation, in 2016, he searched for an Arab hairdresser, to offer something “special” to the customers.
But soon, it became apparent, that, in contrast to the other Syrian refugees accommodated in his apartments in Herzberge, Mohammad had no interest in learning German. “I knew that he wasn’t a good employee, but I did not want to drop him” said Michael.
Mohammed only worked on 4 of the 100 work days in his employment. “His level was that of fourth or fifth grade special-needs school”.
After one year, it looked as if the apartment had been inhabited for twelve years and the Fugmanns were only receiving the share of the rent paid by the welfare office.
What had, until now, been presented as a successful example of integration in Herzberge, turned out, according to the testimony of Ilona’s husband in the witness stand, to be the complete opposite.
On payday, the Syrians took the train to Berlin, said Michael, to purchase drugs. Another inhabitant of the rental apartment who appeared as a witness, confirmed the abuse of drugs. He confirmed that on the day of the deed, he was smoking hashish with the defendant who is on trial for attempted murder and grievous battery, before both left the apartment and went to Ilona’s cosmetics salon.
There, they smoked another joint, until the future victim arrived at the upper floor of the salon and he left the the two to be alone. Only when he heard screaming, he ran upstairs. The floor was covered in blood, and Mohammad H. was holding the victim by her hair and smashing her to the ground.
Witness Marlies L., who was the last customer on that day, confirmed the loud cries from the upper floor. “He wanted to kill me”, Ilona Fugmann yelled, according to the witness. Marlies L. locked the door to the outside when the Syrian had left and administered first aid, until paramedics and the police arrived.
