Aschaffenburg: An Afghan man who attacked a group of infants in a German park earlier this year, resulting in two fatalities, is to be placed in psychiatric care after a court declared that he could not be held criminally responsible due to mental health issues. The incident occurred in January in the southern city of Aschaffenburg and gained national attention during the campaign for February's parliamentary elections, prompting discussions on immigration policies.

According to Ghana News Agency, the 28-year-old Afghan refugee deliberately attacked a group of children in a park on January 22 with a 30-centimeter kitchen knife. The attack resulted in the death of a 2-year-old boy of Moroccan origin and a 41-year-old German passer-by who tried to intervene. Additionally, a 2-year-old girl from Syria and a 73-year-old German were also stabbed but survived the attack.

The public prosecutor's office charged the suspect with multiple crimes, including murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, threats, and various bodily harm offences. Despite confessing to the acts through his defense attorney, presiding judge Karsten Krebs at the Aschaffenburg Regional Court ruled that the defendant could not be held responsible due to a psychiatric illness.

A psychiatric assessment revealed that the man suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, and he reportedly heard voices during the crime that instructed him to carry out the attack. This incident was among several deadly events involving immigrants leading up to February's election, which saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) rise to second place.