A German court has ordered psychiatric confinement for an Iraqi refugee who pushed a 16-year-old Ukrainian girl to her death in front of a moving train last year at a station in Lower Saxony. She was speaking to her grandfather on the phone at the time and he could hear her screams cut short by the sound of a train.
According to Deutsche Welle, the regional court in Göttingen ruled that the 31-year-old man, identified as Muhammed A., an Iraqi national, will be placed in psychiatric treatment rather than face a standard criminal sentence after experts found he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
Muhammed A. killed 16-year-old Ukrainian girl at Friedland station on August 11, 2025. Authorities said he pushed the girl onto the tracks and struck by a train, dying at the scene. Prosecutors in Göttingen determined the defendant was not criminally responsible at the time of the attack due to his mental condition.
Because of that finding, the office did not pursue a typical criminal indictment, instead moving forward with proceedings focused on establishing responsibility for the act and determining appropriate psychiatric measures.
“The court took into account the expert findings,” Deutsche Welle reported, noting that the defendant has paranoid schizophrenia. The court said the psychiatric order is intended to prevent further serious offenses and protect public safety.
The Iraqi national was reportedly not authorized to remain in Germany at the time of the killing under European asylum regulations. A few months before the incident, officials had planned to deport him to Lithuania, the first European Union country he entered, in line with EU asylum rules.
German migration authorities had also sought to place the man in detention ahead of deportation proceedings. That request, however, was denied by the Administrative Court in Hanover. The victim had fled Ukraine in 2022 with her family after leaving Mariupol amid Russia’s invasion.
The ruling means the defendant will remain in psychiatric custody rather than enter the regular prison system.
The case drew public attention in Germany because of both the nature of the crime and the fact that the suspect had already been slated for removal from the country before the killing took place.
According to Deutsche Welle, the regional court in Göttingen ruled that the 31-year-old man, identified as Muhammed A., an Iraqi national, will be placed in psychiatric treatment rather than face a standard criminal sentence after experts found he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
Muhammed A. killed 16-year-old Ukrainian girl at Friedland station on August 11, 2025. Authorities said he pushed the girl onto the tracks and struck by a train, dying at the scene. Prosecutors in Göttingen determined the defendant was not criminally responsible at the time of the attack due to his mental condition.
Because of that finding, the office did not pursue a typical criminal indictment, instead moving forward with proceedings focused on establishing responsibility for the act and determining appropriate psychiatric measures.
“The court took into account the expert findings,” Deutsche Welle reported, noting that the defendant has paranoid schizophrenia. The court said the psychiatric order is intended to prevent further serious offenses and protect public safety.
The Iraqi national was reportedly not authorized to remain in Germany at the time of the killing under European asylum regulations. A few months before the incident, officials had planned to deport him to Lithuania, the first European Union country he entered, in line with EU asylum rules.
German migration authorities had also sought to place the man in detention ahead of deportation proceedings. That request, however, was denied by the Administrative Court in Hanover. The victim had fled Ukraine in 2022 with her family after leaving Mariupol amid Russia’s invasion.
The ruling means the defendant will remain in psychiatric custody rather than enter the regular prison system.
The case drew public attention in Germany because of both the nature of the crime and the fact that the suspect had already been slated for removal from the country before the killing took place.
