An Eritrean asylum seeker has been given a life sentence by a court in southern Germany for stabbing two teenage girls, one of whom died as a result.
In December, the girls were attacked in the town of Illerkirchberg by a 27-year-old man who has only been identified as Okba B.
Ece, a 14-year-old, died from 23 stab wounds, and her 13-year-old friend was seriously injured.
The prosecution claims that he turned on them and began to attack when they saw his knife, which he was going to use at a nearby immigration office.
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They said he was angry because the officials had refused to give him the passport he required to get married in Ethiopia.
Since his crime was deemed to be “particularly severe” by the jury, an early release after serving 15 years in prison is extremely unlikely.
The Eritrean had arrived in Germany in 2015, at a time of unusually high numbers of asylum seekers, many of whom were refugees fleeing war and persecution.
He had a job, knowledge of German, and a calm demeanor before last November, the Ulm court found, and he had successfully integrated into German society.
Okba B apologized to the families and pleaded with them for forgiveness in front of the court.
There is still time to appeal the ruling. Prosecutors claim that if it stands, he may be deported while serving a prison sentence.
The case caused a great deal of outrage in Germany, but the families of the girls said they did not want it to be used politically by anti-immigration groups. The girl who died was German-born from a Turkish-origin family.
