German court sentences 'kebab shop murderer' to life

A German court sentenced a 22-year-old Syrian asylum seeker to life in prison on Friday for slaying his girlfriend in the southwestern city of Reutlingen last year. The man said he acted out of jealousy after learning that his 45-year-old girlfriend was seeing another man.

The incident came just a few days after an 18-year-old student shot nine people and then killed himself near a shopping center in Munich and sparked fears of a possible violent crime wave tearing through the country.

On July 24, the young man entered the kebab shop where he had met his Polish-born girlfriend just a few weeks prior and where they both worked. He stabbed her in the kitchen, prompting her to flee. He then stabbed and injured a customer in the face, before catching his girlfriend on the run and killing her. He then attacked vehicles nearby at random, injuring and trying to injure two people in one car. His rampage came to a halt when he was struck by another passing car.

He has been found guilty of murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.

Lead Judge Ulrich Polachowski said he did not believe the man's claims that he acted in a moment of passion as a jealous lover. He pointed to his two other victims as evidence that he was prompted by "boundless anger," and that his actions "were much more like that of a killing spree." Given the Syrian's personal background, the attack was one of several in 2016 treated as possible Islamist attacks in Germany.

es/msh (AFP, dpa)