After the violent death of two patients in the psychiatric hospital in Lüneburg, court proceedings have been opened against a young Syrian man. The public prosecutor’s office considers the 21-year-old a “danger to the general public” and is seeking permanent hospitalisation in a psychiatric hospital.
According to a preliminary report, the man has paranoid schizophrenia. Two nurses injured by the perpetrator attended the start of the trial on Thursday.
The charges are manslaughter in two cases, coercion, dangerous bodily harm and attempted dangerous bodily harm in combination with resistance and assault on law enforcement officers. On February 19, in a state of diminished responsibility due to illness, the accused allegedly killed two fellow patients aged 54 and 56.
He allegedly entered the patients’ rooms at night. He strangled one man and shoved three surgical masks down his throat. Minutes later, he hit the second patient with a radio, who suffered a craniocerebral trauma. He then went on the rampage, throwing chairs and porcelain dishes at nursing staff and police officers. Two nurses and several officers suffered injuries to their arms and hands. The accused had voluntarily gone to the clinic as a patient shortly before.
Seven more days of hearings have been scheduled for the trial until the beginning of August. Next Monday, July 5, the accused will be questioned.