German schoolgirls confess to fatal stabbing of 12-year-old
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A makeshift memorial of flowers and candles are placed at the site where the body of a murdered schoolgirl, identified only as Luise, was found.
PHOTO: AFP
FRANKFURT – Two schoolgirls have confessed to stabbing to death a 12-year-old girl in Germany, the police said on Tuesday, in a case that has shocked the country.
The victim, known only as Luise, went missing on Saturday afternoon after leaving a friend’s house near the town of Freudenberg in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Her body was found the following day in a wooded area not far from her home.
“The child died as a result of numerous knife wounds and the resulting loss of blood,” Koblenz prosecutor Mario Mannweiler told reporters, adding that there was “no indication of a sexual offence”.
Two girls – aged 12 and 13 – confessed to the murder, added Mr Florian Locker, head of Koblenz police’s homicide department.
The two girls “made statements about the matter and in the end admitted the crime”, Mr Locker said.
The girls and Luise knew each other, Mr Mannweiler added.
But he declined to give further details because of the ages of the suspects, who are too young to be held criminally responsible for their actions in Germany.
In Germany, the age of criminal responsibility starts at 14 years.
Investigators had yet to find the knife or knives used in the attack, Mr Mannweiler said.
“This is, of course, a very unusual and shocking act, even for us,” he told reporters.
Luise had meant to walk home from her friend’s place, but her parents raised the alarm on Saturday evening after she failed to return.
Her disappearance sparked a massive search operation that included dozens of police, a helicopter, drones and sniffer dogs. AFP
