I deserve a life sentence: Syrian admits triple murder at German festival
Issa al-Hasan, 27, a suspected member of the Islamic State group, made the confession at the start of his trial, held under tight security in Duesseldorf.
The attack at the mid-summer street festival in Solingen in August 2024, which also injured 10 people, was one in a series of attacks attributed to asylum seekers and migrants that pushed immigration to the top of the political agenda in Germany.
Hasan was an asylum seeker from Syria who had been slated for deportation, but authorities had failed to remove him from the country.
He is charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and membership of a foreign terrorist organisation.
Sitting behind a protective glass screen, he admitted in a statement read by his lawyer that he had ' committed a grave crime '.
'Three people died at my hands. I seriously injured others,' Hasan said. 'Some of them survived only by luck. They could have died, too.
'I deserve and expect a life sentence.'
Prosecutors say he set out to harm 'non-believers' at the 'festival for diversity'. He allegedly saw his targets 'as representatives of Western society' and sought 'to take revenge against them for the military actions of Western states'.
IS later posted on messaging app Telegram that a 'soldier' had carried out the attack in 'revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere'.
Video footage allegedly showed Hasan pledging allegiance to IS. Prosecutors said he forwarded the tapes on to his IS contact just before he committed the attack.
Hasan did not specifically address his alleged motivations for carrying out the attack or his supposed IS membership.
A psychiatric expert told the court that the accused had denied being a radical Islamist.
Two months before the attack in May 2024, a man with a knife attacked people at an anti-Islam rally in Mannheim, fatally wounding a police officer who intervened.
The Afghan suspect went on trial in February and is also alleged to be sympathetic to the IS group.
In December the same year, a Saudi man was arrested after a car ploughed through a Christmas market crowd in the eastern city of Magdeburg, killing six people and wounding hundreds.
In January, a man with a kitchen knife attacked a group of children in Aschaffenburg, killing a two-year-old boy and a man who tried to protect the toddlers.
A 28-year-old Afghan man was arrested at the scene of the attack, which came during campaigning for Feb 23 elections.
Just 10 days before the vote, another Afghan man was arrested on suspicion of driving a car through a street rally in Munich, killing a two-year-old girl and her mother and injuring dozens.
The centre-right CDU/CSU, which demanded tough curbs on immigration in the wake of the attacks, came first in the election with 28.5 per cent of the vote.
But the biggest gains were made by the far-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which saw its share of the vote more than double to over 20 per cent.
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The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Police documents released after Bryan Kohberger's sentencing detail strange happenings weeks before
In the weeks before Bryan Kohberger killed four University of Idaho students, there were strange happenings at their rental home near campus. One of the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, told her roommates she saw a man she didn't recognize staring at her when she took her dog outside. Another time, the residents came home to find the door open, loose on its hinges. They grabbed golf clubs to arm themselves against a possible intruder. Those details were included in hundreds of documents released by police within hours of Kohberger being sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for the brutal stabbing murders of Gonclaves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin early Nov. 13, 2022. It remains unclear whether the strange happenings had anything to do with the killings. But the documents but do illustrate the frenzied efforts by law enforcement to follow every possible lead to find and convict Kohberger. Here's a look at some information from the documents: Curious happenings at 1122 King Rd. Bethany Funke was one of two roommates to survive the night of the stabbings. In interviews after the murders, she told police that about a month earlier, Goncalves had taken her dog, Murphy, outside when she saw an unknown man 'up above their house to the south,' staring at her. It was concerning enough that Goncalves 'told everyone' about it and called her roommates to ask if they'd be home soon, Funke said. Then, on Nov. 4, nine days before the attack, the roommates came home at 11 a.m. to find the door open, loose on its hinges, as the wind blew. Goncalves was away at the time. Kernodle's father fixed the door, Funke reported. On Nov. 13, police found a gruesome scene. Blood pooled on bed comforters, covered floors and was splattered on walls. One the victims, Kernodle, had extensive defensive wounds; in her room 'it was obvious an intense struggle had occurred,' one office wrote. Detailing the investigation's steps Tips poured in. A staff member at Walmart told police that two to three weeks earlier, a white, college-age male had come in looking for a black ski mask that would cover his face. People who saw online feeds of some of the victims at a food truck offered their thoughts about a possible perpetrator, and investigators also looked into leads about bar-goers they had seen earlier in the night or an Uber driver they frequently used, the documents show. A woman who lived nearby told police that in either August or September 2022, she and her daughter saw a man in their yard who 'looked nervous.' She said she was almost certain it was Kohberger. Officers eventually identified Kohberger — a doctoral student in criminology at nearby Washington State University — using a DNA sample found on a knife sheath at the crime scene. They tracked his movements that night with cellphone data, obtained online shopping records showing he had purchased a military-style knife, and linked him to a car that repeatedly drove by the students' house. The documents include memos memorializing the subpoenas or warrants they served seeking records and the responses to those requests. Investigators served a warrant on the dating app Tinder, looking for accounts Kohberger might have created with certain emails and which might link him to his victims. No such evidence emerged, and the motive for the killings remains a mystery. Kohberger spoke with police — briefly Kohberger was arrested at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, about six weeks after the killings. He was taken to a state police barracks to be interviewed by officers from the Moscow police department, Idaho State Police and the FBI. They chatted about the Washington State football team, Kohberger's doctorate studies in criminal justice, his required duties to be a teaching assistant while in college, and why he wanted to become a professor. Kohberger eventually said he understood they were engaging in small talk, but he would appreciate if the officers explained what they wanted. One detective told him it was because of what had happened in Moscow. Asked if he knew what had transpired, he replied, 'Of course.' Did he want to talk about it? 'Well, I think I would need a lawyer,' Kohberger replied. He continued speaking, though — asking what specific questions they had and asking if his parents and dog were OK following his arrest. Kohberger finally said he would like to speak to an attorney, and police ended the interview because he had invoked his Fifth Amendment right. Behind bars with Kohberger A man incarcerated at the Latah County Jail who was once housed next to Kohberger's cell told a detective Sept. 16, 2024, that Kohberger would often question him about his past criminal offenses and why he was in the maximum security wing of the facility. The man said Kohberger's habits annoyed him, including how he washed his hands dozens of times each day and spent 45 minutes to an hour in the shower. He said Kohberger stayed awake almost all night and would only take a nap during the day. ___ Johnson reported from Seattle. Hallie Golden, Audrey McAvoy, Martha Bellisle, Mark Thiessen and Jesse Bedayn contributed.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Families demolish 'pathetic loser' Bryan Kohberger as emotionless Idaho monster refuses to say why he slaughtered four students
If quadruple murderer Bryan Kohberger felt anything as the friends and families of his victims excoriated him with a series of increasingly fiery witness impact statements, he did not show it. Kohberger was today handed down four consecutive life sentences plus ten years for felony burglary. The sentencing came at the end of a three-hour hearing during which the killer fixed each person who stood to address him in Ada County Courthouse with the same intense stare. It is two and a half years since Kohberger entered 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho shortly after 4am and stabbed 21-year-old best friends Kaylee Goncalves and Maddie Mogen and 20-year-old Xana Kernodle and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin to death. Yet today he didn't flinch as he faced down the devastatio n his crimes have wrought - not even when Kaylee's father, Steve Goncalves, dragged the lectern from where it stood facing the judge and turned it, like a tank's gun tower, towards him. Goncalves had been vocal in his disagreement with the plea deal struck by Kohberger earlier this month - a move that saw him avoid trial and with it the threat of the death penalty. Now Goncalves trained his rage on the killer. 'You picked the wrong families, the wrong state, the wrong community,' he thundered. 'You tried to divide us. You failed. Your actions have united everyone in our disgust for you.' 'Today you have no name,' he told him, stripping Kohberger of the notoriety that, many believe the former criminology PhD student craved. 'A Master's degree? You're a joke. A complete joke. 'The world's watching because of the kids, not because of you. In time you will be nothing more than initials on an otherwise unmarked tombstone.' Seated between his defense attorneys, Anne Taylor and Elisa Massoth, Kohberger simply watched, his eyes hooded by his heavy brow. Last time he sat in this courtroom he looked every bit the former University of Washington teaching assistant that he once was – in dress pants, a white button-down shirt and tie. Today he suffered the ignominy of his imminent incarceration and his status as a guilty man. He wore an orange prison jumpsuit, his hands cuffed to a belly chain, his ankles shackled. A single sheet of paper sat on the table before him, on it a print of a dark heart. A pen sat on top of it. He neither touched nor looked at it for the duration of proceedings. His mother Maryann and sister Amanda were there, seated at the front of the gallery, away from the grieving families. At times Maryann visibly shuddered as the details of her son's crimes were rehearsed. The day opened with impact statements from the two surviving roommates – Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen. One of Maddie's best friends, Emily Alandt, read a letter on Funke's behalf. Alandt was the sorority sister who Mortensen called on the morning of the murders. She went to the King road house with her boyfriend Hunter Johnson and was among the first that day to learn the horrifying truth. Struggling to contain her emotions Alandt read Funke's words, 'I was afraid to go into my own back yard, scared the person would come for me next… I made my parents close all the blinds, barely left the house and made sure I was never alone. I slept in my parents room for almost a year and made my parents double lock every door.' She has not, she revealed, 'slept through a single night since this happened.' Prosecutor Bill Thompson put his hand to his forehead as Alandt continued, 'One day I realized I had to live for them. I do not take that for granted. Everything I do I do that with them in mind.' Xana, she wrote, was 'one in a million.' Kaylee could have 'ruled the world and been America's sweetheart.' Ethan was 'the sweetest and most genuine guy…the way he cared for Xana was proof that storybook love and true romance do exist.' As for Maddie she was, quite simply 'the older sister I would have always wanted.' Next came Dylan Mortensen – just 19 when the murders upended her life and the one roommate who set eyes on Kohberger as he stalked through the house that night. Overcome with emotion she could not stand but instead sat by the prosecutor's table. She struggled to steady her breathing, gulping and stifling cries. Judge Steven Hippler comforted her, 'just take your time.' Kohberger's eyes darted to the side, he breathed heavily. 'Because of him,' Mortensen said, 'four beautiful genuine compassionate people were taken from this world for no reason. 'He didn't just take away their lives. He took away the light they created in every room. He took away what they were becoming and the futures they were going to have… all the memories that we were supposed to make.' With his senseless violence Mortensen told Kohberger, 'You have shattered me in places I didn't know I could break.' To this day she suffers from panic attacks that 'slam' into her 'like a tsunami out of nowhere.' When that happens, she shared, she couldn't breathe, she dropped to the floor. 'It's far beyond anxiety,' she said. 'It's my body reliving everything... My nervous system never got the message that it's over.' Still, Kohberger sat – as impassive as stone. The only time he gave any slight indication that any of this was getting to him was when Mortensen said of him, 'He is a hollow vessel, something less than human. He chose destruction. He chose evil. He feels nothing.' His lips pursed, he blinked and shifted in his chair. Maddie's stepfather Scott, and mother Karen Laramie told how their daughter was taken away 'by a sudden act of evil.' Scott spoke for them both, 'We know the law allows us to comment on the defendant and the sentence. 'We support the plea. Society needs to be protected against this evil. As for the defendant we will not waste words. Evil has many faces, but evil does not deserve our time and attention.' Again, Kohberger's lips twitched. As the morning went on, the loved ones of his victims stood one by one and took their turn to diminish, ridicule and dismiss him as a failure, as foolish, as nothing. Xana's aunt Kim, offered him forgiveness. She said, 'I have forgiven you because I no longer could live with hate in my heart. 'And any time you want to talk and tell me what happened I'm here. Get my number because I have questions. I'm here, I'll be the one who listens to you.' Xana's mother, Cara Northington, who has struggled with addiction throughout her life and says she has found God and sobriety since the death of her daughter, said, 'Jesus has allowed me to forgive you for murdering my daughter. 'Without you even being sorry or asking for this, because He who lives in me is greater than any evil in the world.' Her stepfather Randy Davies had no such compassion. 'I don't know what my limits are here,' he said. 'I'm really struggling. I want to be out in the woods with you so I can teach you about loss and pain. 'You are weak. God what I would just give for a moment in the f***ing woods. 'I'm shaking… I hope you feel my energy.' But in a morning filled with rage and loss and love perhaps the most powerful iteration of them all came from Kaylee's older sister Alivea Goncalves. Like her father she turned towards the killer and word by word she took him apart. 'I won't stand here and give you what you want,' she said, 'I won't give you tears. I won't give you trembling. 'Instead, I will call you what you are: sociopath, psychopath, murderer.' She turned his own research methods against him – echoing a questionnaire once written by Kohberger for his academic study. She peppered and mocked him with questions, 'Did you prepare for the crime? Please detail what you were thinking and feeling. Why did you choose my sister? Detail what you were feeling. 'Before leaving their home is there anything else you did? How does it feel to know that the only thing you failed more miserably at was trying to be a rapper? 'Why November 13? Did you truly think your amazon purchase was invisible because you used a gift card?' And then a chilling revelation and a hint of how her sister suffered, 'What was the second weapon you used on Kaylee. What were Kaylee's last words?' Kaylee was so badly beaten by Kohberger that, her father has claimed, she would have died of the assault if she had not died from her stab wounds – of which he has said there were more than 50. 'Do you feel anything at all, or are you exactly what you always feared? Nothing,' Alivea rounded. Her disdain rose as the court sat enthralled and all Kohberger could do was sit in his humiliation. 'There's a name for your condition,' Alivea said, 'Though your inflated ego just didn't allow you to see it. Wannabe. 'The truth is you're basic. Your patterns are predictable, your motives shallow. You're not profound, you're pathetic. 'Don't ever get it twisted again. No one is scared of you, no one is impressed by you. No one thinks that you are important.' And then the mic drop moment. 'Here's the one thing you hate the most. If you hadn't attacked them in their sleep, in the middle of the night like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your f***ing ass.' The gallery erupted into applause as she retook her seat and the judge did nothing to stop them. Shortly after 11am prosecutor Bill Thompson stood to ask the court to impose the maximum sentence for each count and for those sentences run consecutively. He twirled his moustache and stroked his beard, folded his hands across his chest and choked back clear emotion – just as he had during the July 2 plea deal hearing. He said, 'We can never undo the horror of what occurred in early morning hours Nov 13, 2022 1122 King Road, Moscow, Idaho… even God cannot change the past. 'But everyone in this room has the ability to take themselves forward and we want the judicial system to afford them the opportunity today to do that. 'From today forward our memories should be focused on these innocent victims whose lives were taken on their families on their friends on their community.' Asked if they intended to offer any evidence the defense said no. Asked if he had anything to say Kohberger told the judge, 'I respectfully decline.' His voice was barely audible. As he sentenced him Judge Hippler described Kohberger as a once 'faceless coward,' who 'slithered' into 1122 King Road and 'senselessly slaughtered,' four of the six young people there that night. He lambasted the killer for his cruelty and for his 'incompetence' which, along with 'outstanding police work,' saw him brought to justice today. Judge Hippler said, 'Those speaking today and those who did not speak but carry the same burden of loss now carry the memory of these forever young people, these perpetual children. 'What we don't know and what we may never know is why? 'I share the desire to know the why, but it seems to me that by continuing to focus on why we give Mr Kohberger relevance, we give him agency, and we give him power. It makes us dependent upon the defendant to give us a reason.' He continued, 'Even if I could force him to speak, which legally I cannot, how can anyone truly believe that what he says is the truth? 'I suspect the so-called reason would be dished out in enticing self-serving and aggrandizing bits leaving people more desire for understanding. Even if we could get truthful insight into his way I suspect it would not quench anyone's thirst for understanding why.' The judge hoped that none would 'stoop' to provide Kohberger with a spotlight in future. Criminal psychologists should study him, he said, but 'there should be no reason for that to spill into the public eye.' As he brought proceedings to an end Judge Hippler said, 'His acts of evil have made him the worst of the worst. 'Even in pleading guilty he's giving nothing hinting of remorse or redemption or regret for the pain that he's caused and therefore I will not attempt to speak of him further other than to sentence him and remove him forever from society.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Shocking statement 'Killer dad' Luciano Frattolin made about daughter as money troubles, infidelity is revealed
The man accused of drowning his nine-year-old daughter and leaving her lifeless body beneath a log in a murky pond once confessed he didn't like being 'tied down' by the little girl. Luciano Frattolin, 45, a Canadian businessman now facing second-degree murder charges, allegedly fabricated a story about his daughter Melina being abducted by men in a white van, but police say the truth was far worse. Melina was found drowned in a remote section of forest in upstate New York on Sunday afternoon, her body partially concealed, after her father himself called 911 the night before to report her missing. Now, a portrait is emerging of a man whose once-polished public image including that of a doting father masked a troubling private life marked by debt, deception, and emotional detachment from the child he claimed to cherish. 'He loved his daughter, but he didn't like the idea of being tied down,' a former associate of Frattolin told the Montreal Gazette, speaking on condition of anonymity. The friend, who knew Frattolin during his time in Ethiopia, where the accused had investments in mining and hotel construction, said that while Frattolin visited his daughter at least once a year, he remained mostly distant from her day-to-day life in Montreal. That emotional distance was laid bare in eerie writings Frattolin posted to his now-deleted coffee business website. There, the accused father reflected on his obsession with maintaining 'perfect order' in his home and how his daughter's 'messy artwork' and 'chaotic toys' disrupted his sense of control. Yet, in a disturbing contradiction, he also wrote that 'she is the light of my life… the inspiration for everything.' Frattolin pleaded not guilty in Ticonderoga Town Court on Monday while shackled in a white prison jumpsuit. At the arraignment, he revealed he was more than $200,000 in debt, citing the collapse of his business empire in Canada, claiming he could not afford a lawyer. His next court appearance is scheduled for Friday. The horror began on Saturday night, when Frattolin called 911 and claimed that two men had forced his daughter into a white van near Lake George while he was urinating in the woods. New York State Police quickly issued an Amber Alert, but soon began to suspect that his account didn't add up. 'There was no evidence of an abduction,' said Captain Robert McConnell of the New York State Police, who confirmed the cause of death was drowning and classified the case as a homicide. Adding to the unraveling lies, a local woman named Rebecca Kulickowski told News10 she spotted a man she believes was Frattolin running frantically up a wooded hill the same night Melina vanished. 'It only caught my eye because as I was driving past the car, I seen a skinny tall guy,' she said. 'He was running up a hill that he was parked next to… I just didn't feel right… our eyes locked when I drove by.' By Sunday afternoon, police found Melina's body in a shallow, muddy pond about 30 miles north of Lake George, partially hidden beneath a log. Surveillance footage from earlier that evening showed Melina with her father in Saratoga Springs, and at 6:30pm, she called her mother in Montreal and said they were on their way home. 'She appeared to be in good health and did not indicate she was under any duress,' said Capt. McConnell. 'The investigation has determined that sometime after Melina's phone call with her mother, and before Mr. Frattolin's 911 call, he allegedly murdered Melina and left her body in a remote area where she was later discovered by law enforcement,' said Capt. McConnell. Authorities believe the murder occurred just hours before Melina was due to be returned to her mother, who has had full custody since 2019, when she split with Frattolin after discovering he was seeing another woman during a visit to Ethiopia. 'She came to visit him while he was recovering from an assault,' said the former friend, referring to a 2019 incident that left Frattolin with permanent eye damage. 'And she found him with someone else. That's why they separated.' Since then, Frattolin maintained sporadic contact with his daughter and struggled to stay afloat financially. He had fallen $26,000 behind in rent on a Montreal property he sublet as an Airbnb, which he used to help pay Melina's child support and is currently suing two property managers for over $115,000, accusing them of mismanaging payments. In a court filing, the Bank of Nova Scotia said Frattolin owed $83,000 on a shuttered café and an additional $97,000 in credit card debt. His company, Café Gambella, which marketed ethically sourced Ethiopian coffee, has collapsed. Despite the unraveling finances and fractured family ties, Frattolin tried to present himself online as a man of vision and virtue. His Instagram was filled with photos of father-daughter trips, Thanksgiving celebrations, and exotic vacations to Ethiopia and Italy. One particularly unsettling YouTube video showed him frolicking in the snow with Melina, set to a lullaby: 'Now hush, little baby, don't you cry. Everything's gonna be alright… Daddy's here to hold you through the night.' But behind the camera, friends say, he was 'image-obsessed,' dressing in designer clothes and refusing to fly coach. 'He was one of the first people to bring a Porsche into Ethiopia,' the former associate said. 'He had a Land Cruiser, too. In Ethiopia, that's wealth.' At the same time, his online biography alluded cryptically to an 'unfortunate event' in 2019 that required a 'long and arduous recovery', hinting at the physical and emotional damage he suffered in the assault.
