The Afghan migrant behind a mass stabbing spree in the small Swedish town of Vetlanda admitted in court that he carried out the attack because an interaction with an atheist earlier that day had angered him.
The 22-year-old Afghan testified in court on Wednesday, with the aid of an interpreter, claiming he was in poor mental health before carrying out the attack. He then described the interaction he had had that day at the train station, which he said had triggered him.
“A person I didn’t know said God doesn’t exist,” the 22-year-old told the court, according to Swedish broadcaster STV, and added: “This person made me angry.”
After the encounter, the Afghan said that he went home to pick up a kitchen knife with the intention of returning to the station to kill the atheist and then end his own life.
Instead, the Afghan stabbed seven people at the station in a rampage. But according to him, none of them was the person who had previously offended him.
“I don’t know why I attacked them,” he said and claimed to have blacked out, only remembering stabbing two people and having a vague memory of a third attack.
The third day of the trial for the Afghan migrant, who is accused of attempted murder, saw the prosecutor demand a sentence of life in prison.
A report from last month revealed that the 22-year-old Afghan had first applied for asylum in Norway in October of 2015, but his claim was denied. Less than a year later, he came to Sweden and claimed to be 11 years younger than the age he had stated on his asylum application in Norway, making him an alleged minor.
Under the European Union’s Dublin regulations, the Afghan should not have been given temporary residency in Sweden but should have been deported to Norway, the first safe country in which he applied for asylum.