A 17-year-old Syrian refugee in Germany has been arrested on suspicion of raping a 34-year-old woman in Hannover during the early hours of Sunday morning. Authorities believe the suspect followed the woman from a train before attacking her in a secluded area.
The Hannover public prosecutor’s office confirmed the arrest, stating: “With regard to the youthful age of the suspect and the victim’s interests worthy of protection, we will not provide any further information.”
According to Bild, the suspect, identified as Abdulrahman A., had only been in Germany for a few months before the alleged attack.
On the night in question, he was reportedly traveling by train within the Hannover metropolitan area, where he noticed the victim.
The 34-year-old woman had attended an event and was heading home when she boarded the U3 line towards Altwarmbüchen at Hannover’s main train station. She exited the train at Paracelsusweg stop in the Bothfeld district (photo) around 3 a.m., unaware that the suspect had followed her.
Authorities suspect that the 17-year-old pursued her, overpowered her, and dragged her into nearby bushes, where the sexual assault allegedly took place. The location of the attack was just a few hundred meters from a police station.
After the assault, the suspect is believed to have returned to a refugee shelter located about a kilometer away by boarding another train.
Police investigators were able to quickly identify and track him down using footage from surveillance cameras on the train system.
So far, authorities report that the Syrian teenager has not made any statements regarding the allegations. Additionally, he was not previously known to law enforcement for any criminal activity.
The attack is the latest in a long line of incidents involving Syrian refugees in Germany.
This month alone, Remix News has reported on a 25-year-old Syrian man’s arrest after he caused panic at Dortmund’s main train station, arguing with passengers on a regional train and threatening to kill them before brandishing a replica AK-47 assault rifle.
In Schwerte, North Rhine-Westphalia, last week, three Syrian migrants were arrested for the brutal multiple stabbing of a Romanian teenager after tracking the boy down and stabbing him repeatedly in the back until he collapsed. They are being held on suspicion of attempted murder.
Another Syrian, 48-year-old Sakr B., has been causing mayhem in Berlin after a spree of attacks against German institutional buildings. This week he hurled a granite paving stone at the Paul Löbe House, which is where the German federal parliament meets, demanding the transfer of €21 billion to Palestine.
The future of Syrians in Europe has been under discussion following the fall of the former Assad regime, with many conservatives suggesting now is the time for those who fled the administration to return home.
Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently said that Syrian refugees should be able to travel to their home country in order to go on an “exploratory trip” to see if it is safe to return to their homeland permanently.