An Afghan migrant in Germany is being investigated for attempted murder after a Ukrainian woman was stabbed in a Frankfurt park bench on Monday.
According to a joint release from the Frankfurt Police and Prosecutor’s Office, a 19-year-old man from Afghanistan seriously injured a 41-year-old woman as she was sitting by the River Main on Monday.
The police said that the Afghan migrant came upon the woman unnoticed from behind, grabbed her by the shoulders, and began to stab her neck and head with a boxcutter knife.
Although she was able to momentarily escape from the assailant, she stumbled and fell to the ground allowing the attacker to once again gain control of her, after which he began to stab her again.
“The woman’s screams alerted witnesses to what had happened and they went to the crime scene. The suspect is said to have then let go of his victim and fled,” the police said.
The Bild newspaper reports that the woman had fled from the war in Ukraine to Germany. The paper has also named the alleged attacker as Mohammad Zaman A.
The police carried out an “extensive search” for the manhunt, including deploying a helicopter, and ultimately the Afghan migrant was found hiding in a bush. He has been arrested and incarcerated on suspicion of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
Senior Public Prosecutor Dominik Mies: “The civil courage of the passers-by is particularly worthy of praise. This and the excellent police work led to the quick arrest of the suspect, which may have prevented something worse from happening.”
The investigations, however, including into his background and the motive for the attack are ongoing.
The attack comes amid increasing knife crime in Germany. According to Der Speigel, the number of knife crimes rose by nearly 50 per cent in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia last year, rising from 4,191 crimes in 2022 to 6,221 in 2023. The report found that a third of suspects were under the age of 21 years old. Nearly half, 47.4 per cent, of perpetrators did not hold a German passport.
The attack in Frankfurt also comes after a police officer was killed by a failed asylum seeker from Afghanistan after he launched a frenzied knife attack against an anti-Islamification in Mannheim last month.