Regina Gerken was always committed to helping others. She enjoyed gardening and volunteered to take care of a front garden. This was also the case on a Saturday in September 2021, when within a few seconds nothing in her life and that of her family was the same as before.
Abdul Malik A., whom she did not know, stabbed her. “He was bothered by the fact that there was work going on,” it was clear to the district court on Thursday. In an acute psychotic state, A. had attacked, the judges said. They ordered his placement in a psychiatric hospital.
A. had come to Germany as a refugee in 2015. “He did not live strictly religiously,” the presiding judge said. But around the turn of 2020/21, a mental illness had broken out in him, she said. He lost his job, broke off contact with friends, stopped drinking alcohol. He felt persecuted, withdrew, devoted himself more to his religion.
Out of nowhere, he rammed a knife into Regina Gerken’s neck. The most severe injuries led to a right-sided paralysis. She can no longer speak. A passer-by intervened and was also injured.
When he was arrested, A., who is now 30 years old, is said to have declared that he had “sent her to paradise” and that “women should not work”. In court, A. explained that he stabbed out of fear – “a mistake happened, an accident”.
Legally, the crime was attempted murder as well as dangerous and grievous bodily harm. The accused had attacked Gerken in Wilmersdorf in an insidious manner, the judgement continued. At the same time, he was a man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. At the time of the crime, his culpability was no longer given and he could not be punished.
The public prosecutor and the defence lawyer had also pleaded for placement in the hospital of the psychiatric treatment centre. “It is clear that Mr A. is dangerous at the moment”, said the lawyer.
It was not an easy life for A. – “locked up indefinitely – it is a hard pill to swallow”.
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