Migrant Suspect in Rape-Murder of German Teenager Already Had Attempted Murder Conviction Abroad

The “17-year-old” migrant who is suspected of raping and murdering German student Maria Ladenburger was convicted of a similar violent crime against a woman in Greece three years ago where he also claimed to be 17.

According to new information the migrant Hussein K., who claims to be underage, had been sentenced to a suspended ten-year sentence in Greece for attempted murder in 2013. The Afghani national arrived on the Greek island of Corfu at the end of May in 2013 and is said to have attacked a 20-year-old girl and thrown her off a cliff, Die Welt reports.

The young woman survived the fall off the steep coastal cliff and in February 2014 the migrant’s trial ended resulting in the 10-year sentence for attempted murder. It is unknown why the Greek courts decided to suspend the sentence given the nature of the crime or whether they intentionally allowed him to leave Greece and travel to Germany.

The age the migrant gave at the time of his trial was 17 – the same age he has claimed three years later leading to speculation as to how old he actually is. In Greece and in Germany, the judicial system is much more lenient in cases where the perpetrators are underage; but even if he were telling the truth in Greece, he would be at least 20 years old at the time of the murder of Miss Ladenburger.

German magazine Stern claims that two asylum seekers independently verified that the Afghan was the same man in Corfu and showed the magazine various photographs in which a distinguishing tattoo of Hussein K. is clearly visible. German authorities are currently working with their Greek counterparts to determine if the sources  are accurate.

The rape and murder of Miss Ladenburger in Freiburg shocked Germany and once again raised serious questions from the German public on the migrant policies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The 19-year-old medical student, whose father is a European Union official, volunteered at an asylum home and was very supportive of migrants.

It was revealed that her father had used the funeral of his daughter to raise money for migrants, leading to a public outcry. Germans were equally appalled by the lack of media coverage of the murder by the state broadcaster ARD who claimed the story was “too regional” despite making international headlines.

The case of Maria Ladenburger is similar to the case of Swedish social worker Alexandra Mezher earlier this year who was murdered by a migrant who claimed to be underage. Later, it had been reported that the Somali was an adult.