By Angelika Resenhoeft, dpa
After a woman was allegedly attacked by her boyfriend last August at a shelter for refugees in the town of Alzenau, between Frankfurt and Aschaffenburg, the 29-year-old officer did not initiate an investigation, the court said.
“He did nothing, absolutely nothing,” presiding judge Torsten Kemmerer said, accusing the defendant of indifference and laziness.
In January, the suspect, an Afghan national who was later found to be mentally ill, travelled to nearby Aschaffenburg, where he attacked a group of infants in a city park, leaving two people dead, including a small child.
Court proceedings began earlier this month over the January attack, which made national headlines during the campaign for February’s parliamentary elections, stirring debate on immigration policies.
The suspect’s criminal responsibility for the incident has been called into question due to mental health issues.
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The officer who failed to act on last year’s suspected stabbing attack at the refugee shelter was sentenced to a five-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay €3,000 ($3,500) to an aid organisation.
The ruling can be appealed.
Prosecutors had accused the defendant of having been aware at the time that someone had been stabbed in Alzenau and that there were photos of the incident.
But the officer failed to inform prosecutors about the case, thereby obstructing investigations, chief prosecutor Christoph Gillot said.
Gillot said it was unclear whether investigations into the Alzenau stabbing could have prevented the attack in Aschaffenburg, but added that the question was irrelevant in the present proceedings.
The defendant did not address the accusations during the trial, meaning it remains unclear why he did not act at the time.
