A serious fire would have broken out, several flats in a 19-apartment building in Wiesloch would have burned down, and their residents would have been in danger from toxic fumes. What the perpetrator did not know, however, when he attempted arson was that diesel fuel, which he had used, is not flammable at room temperature, unlike normal petrol – and so worse could be prevented. Due to his paranoid schizophrenia, the Heidelberg Regional Court declared the 37-year-old accused to be incapable of contracting guilt; he was suffering from a highly acute psychosis.Yesterday, Wednesday, the presiding judge Markus Krumme passed the sentence: In his current condition, the accused was “a considerable danger to the general public”. Therefore, the criminal division followed the prosecution’s demand and ordered the accused to be placed in a psychiatric hospital.In January of this year the schizophrenia started again according to the judgment by the court.This had also been proven by changes in his behaviour, as several neighbours of the 37-year-old had reported. For example, the accused lived out the Islam to which he had converted years before, “without caring about third parties”. He listened to loud music in the evenings and at night, harassed a female tenant so massively that she was forced to move out, lost his job and then appeared on the premises of the North Baden Psychiatric Centre wearing a mask and carrying a stick. “This suggests the existence of a highly active psychosis,” the judge said. In addition, the 37-year-old is said to have reduced contact with his parents during the same period, to have met friends with offensive hostility and to have undertaken a haphazard journey eastwards, finally ending up in London.The psychosis finally culminated in two incidents: In mid-May, the accused observed a woman discussing with a man in Wiesloch. Because he recognised the woman as a former neighbour, the 37-year-old also took part in the discussion – without knowing what it was about. “He got into such a rage that he hit the man in the face with his fist,” Judge Krumme stated. The man defended himself with pepper spray, but that did not stop the accused: according to the judge, he kicked the man, who was lying on the ground in the meantime, several times. “This is not a normal psychological reaction,” said the judge.”But even after this incident, things continued, the accused was now mainly busying himself with arson,” Krumme reported: After the 37-year-old had burnt several books on his balcony in mid-June, causing a shooting flame, he bought a five-litre canister a few days later. He filled it with diesel, poured out the fuel in the cellar and tried to start a fire with a lit piece of paper, the judge added. “The motive remains unclear, the accused did not want to comment on it.” According to Krumme, however, the court is certain: “Without the pathological psychosis, these deeds would not have occurred. The prerequisite for psychiatric placement is undoubtedly present.”
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Antisemitism, Antizionism, Jihadism and the Reunited Germany. News by Fred Alan Medforth