The asylum seeker from Eritrea on Saturday evening first hit a man from behind against the head, according to police. Then he beat the victim with a beer bottle in the face, breaking the bottle.
He then tried to stab his victim, but what prevented by a companion of the Eritrean. The injured had to be admitted to the University Hospital of Magdeburg.
The alleged perpetrator fled, but the police succeeded a little while later to arrest the suspect. It turned out that the asylum seeker was under the influence of alcohol and drugs. After consultation with the prosecutor, however, the police let him go.
But this decision the law enforcement led to more violence, because few hours later, the Eritrean once again attacked passers-by without reason.
According to police accounts, the 27-year-old immigrant launched a beer bottle at a group of five. He injured a man on the arm. He then tried to attack another man with the broken bottle. However, his new victim managed to avoid it.
The attacker and his 16-year-old companion were arrested near the scene of the crime. The Eritrean was eventually arrested. The police are investigating on suspicion of dangerous bodily harm in two cases, as well as attempted dangerous bodily injury.
According to information from the Magdeburg regional daily Volksstimme, the asylum seeker with a tolerated status has had several encounters with law the police already. Already in March of this year, he is said to have been involved in a brawl. In addition, he had already been conspicuous because of other cases of personal injury and narcotics.
A week ago in Magdeburg a Syrian attacked two passers-by, including an 18-year-old high school student, seriously injuring her, but surprisingly the perpetrator has so far avoided prison.
The Federal state of Saxony-Anhalt’s Interior Minister Holter Stahlknecht (CDU) conceded in this regard that there were certain failures in the investigation. The police has been accused of downplaying the Syrian’s attacks.
The student suffered a nasal fracture and a fracture of the left eye socket in the attack. A 28-year-old medical student was hospitalized with three lacerations on the head and a fracture of the frontal sinus, the Magdeburg Volksstimme revealed.
Although the suspect had been repeatedly violent in North Rhine-Westphalia, the police in Magdeburg decided according to the report against imprisonment. In the reasoning it was because “the exact gravity of the injury at this time” was not yet clear. In their press release, the police had written only of an “arm fracture”, which, according to lawyers, did not exist.
The young woman described how the Syrian suddenly punched her in the face when she sat in a tram. Other passengers reacted in shock, but “nobody helped me,” she told the newspaper.
When the tram stopped, the 18-year-old and the other passengers got out. A medical student was also slapped in the face when he tried to help. “The fairly crowded tram was deserted, and everyone quickly fled. I called for help. But nobody came,” he said.
The Syrian was admitted to a psychiatric ward at the university hospital after the crime. But one day later, he was released again. Only after the girl’s family insisted on a re-examination, legal practitioners examined the injuries of the two victims.
These have now been reclassified as “potentially life-threatening”. Eight days after the crime, the prosecution finally filed for detention. The Syrian was arrested the same day and has since been in custody.
