Husband receives nine-and-a-half-year sentence for attempted murder

The Ingolstadt Regional Court has sentenced a 35-year-old Afghan man to nine and a half years in prison for attempting to kill his separated wife, BR reported on Friday. The woman survived after he stabbed her 14 times in central Ingolstadt last October.

The eight-centimetre blade struck her thighs, abdomen, back and hands. She was on her way to the youth welfare office to discuss custody of the couple’s four children.

The court found that the man acted with intent to kill and out of base motives. According to the presiding judge, chat messages sent to the woman days before the attack showed that he had insulted and threatened her. He wanted to prevent her from formally ending the marriage and punish her for seeking an independent life.

The judge said the man had carried the knife deliberately. By stabbing his wife 14 times, he had accepted the possibility of killing her. He also did not take active steps to help her after the attack, the court found.

The court’s ruling largely followed the prosecution’s request for an 11-and-a-half-year sentence. The defence had sought three and a half years for dangerous bodily harm, arguing that the defendant had only wanted to stop his wife from going to the youth welfare office and had not intended to kill her. The defence said it would appeal.

A medical expert told the court that the woman lost about one litre of blood and would have died without rapid medical assistance. None of the stab wounds hit vital organs. The prosecution and court said her survival was a matter of pure luck.

The judge also cited general deterrence, saying women living in Germany must be able to rely on the country’s values being protected and violations being punished. The couple had married in Afghanistan and later moved to Germany. They have lived in Germany for more than 10 years and have four children.

The woman had previously stayed in a women’s shelter twice with the children after disputes with her husband. She told the court that the conflicts included his insistence that she wear full-body covering. Despite the attack, she defended her husband during the trial.

After closing arguments, the defendant apologised and said he had never wanted to kill his wife. He had kept his head lowered during the proceedings and cried when an expert report describing her injuries was read out. He claimed that he had carried the knife by accident after using it to cut fruit for his children in a park the previous day.