He is before the Hanover Regional Court Trial against Alexander K. who killed his neighbor, Rahma A. (26), last summer. The court found it proven that in July he kicked in the door to the apartment on the floor below his own and rammed his hunting knife into the young Algerian woman’s chest and stomach.
The external reason is said to have been a banal neighborhood dispute. Alexander K. had repeatedly complained about the smell of smoke and noise for months, but Rahma A. couldn’t help it. However, the unemployed and isolated K. increasingly felt that he was being exposed to “psychological terror”.
Despite his difficult personality structure and psychological problems such as depression and suicidal thoughts, an expert believes he is fully responsible.
However, Alexander K. could not be proven to have had racist or anti-Muslim motivation – there were no witnesses who would have heard such statements, and the police also found nothing of the kind in his computer and cell phone data.
A lot of response in the Arab world and on social media
The young woman’s family initially had suspicions expressed. Rahma A. herself is said to have told her sister that the strange neighbor might have something against her because she wore hijab. There was probably no other way for her to explain the ongoing hostility.
The suspicion quickly found widespread resonance in the Arab world and on social media; a “Justice for Rahma” initiative was founded; there were memorial events, an online petition and calls for donations for the family.
In her verdict, the judge said that she was convinced that the crime would have happened even if someone else had been standing behind the door: “It didn’t matter to him who it was.” She emphasized: “The act that happened here needs no label – it is completely terrible.”
The court also awarded the parents and sister a survivor’s allowance totaling 55,000 euros. The verdict is not yet final. (with material from dpa)