Anour S. (name modified, 40) was waiting for the lift on the ground floor with a girlfriend. When the door opened, her ex rushed out, butchered her with 17 knife stabs. “Out of jealousy and an exaggerated sense of honour”, as it says in the charge of attempted murder?
Or, according to conjecture: Because of a residence permit that he, as a rejected asylum seeker, could only obtain by getting married? “I didn’t want to kill her,” claims the Tunisian Mohamed M. (42) in the trial before the Regional Court. “I still love her after all. And not because of these papers.”
The two had met in 2019. And first married according to Islamic law. “We were both still married. We had to wait until we got divorced to go to the registry office.” He moved in with her in Badstraße (Berlin district of Wedding). “It was very harmonious at first.” After selling his snack bar, he worked in construction. “I brought home good money.” But then there were more and more arguments. Also because of his alcohol and drug consumption.
After two and a half years, Anour S. gave the accused the boot. Six (!) weeks before the bloody deed. Since then she no longer had any rest, she lived in constant fear. He ignored a court order prohibiting him from approaching her. He sent her mobile phone messages (“I’m going to cut your face. You will return to Tunisia in a box”…). The accused shakes his head: “She knows I am a good person.”
On the day of the crime, he was supposed to meet friends at a café nearby to watch football (Tunisia against Egypt). Before that, he wanted to see her quickly. “I wanted a reconciliation or my money, which was still in the flat. About 35,000 euros.” When no one opened the door, he took the lift back down. And there Anour was suddenly standing in front of him.
“I just wanted to talk to her. But she screamed hysterically and stabbed me in the arm with a knife,” he said in court, suddenly producing a completely new account of the crime. He snatched the knife from her and stabbed her. Where? How many times? The accused: ” I got dizzy. I became aggressive. Within seconds.” Probably also because of the drugs.
According to the indictment, he, not she, had knives with him. The accused: “Yes, two. Bought just before to cut up my food.”
Anour S. was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries (stitches in the lungs, among other things). An emergency operation was successful in saving her life.
