A 29-year-old Afghan man in Germany repeatedly stabbed a 58-year-old landscape gardener who was working in a park in Berlin, allegedly because he didn’t like the fact that as a woman she was working, police said Sunday.
The man stabbed the woman in the neck several times in the city’s Wilmersdorf district on Saturday afternoon.
A 66-year-old man who saw the attack unfold rushed to help the woman but was also stabbed in the neck by the suspect.
Police said the attacker, whose identity was not given in line with German privacy laws, allegedly approached the woman and talked to her.
He then suddenly pulled a knife and stabbed her several times in the neck. He also attacked the passerby who tried helping the woman. The victims’ identities were also not released.
Berlin’s general state prosecutor’s office said Sunday the assailant was arrested on charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault at the scene.
The victims both underwent surgery for their injuries and are currently in hospital.
Police said in a statement the suspect may suffer from a mental illness. However, prosecutors and criminal police are also investigating him on suspicion that his attack may have been motivated by Islamist ideology.
Police said the attacker, whose identity was not given in line with German privacy laws, allegedly approached the woman and talked to her
Martin Steltner, spokesman for the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, told the Berliner Zeitung that the suspect was not known to the authorities as a threat.
‘We have indications of a mixture of psychological problems and an Islamist motivation,’ said Steltner.
Investigators said the suspect has been living in Germany since 2016 and his mental health could have played a role in the attack.
Berlin Police said in a statement: ‘[On Saturday] at around 1.30 p.m., a 29-year-old man of Afghan nationality is said to have approached a 58-year-old landscape gardener who worked there in the area of a green area in Wilmersdorf, Prinzregentenstrasse and Güntzelstrasse, because he was allegedly bothered by the fact that she was a woman working.
‘Then he is said to have given her several targeted knife stabs in the neck suddenly and seriously injured her.
‘A 66-year-old man rushing to help is said to have been seriously injured by the suspect by stabbing his neck. Both came to hospitals and stayed there after operations.
‘The suspect was arrested by arriving police at the scene.’
