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CRIME

Man who murdered young child in refugee home was ex-convict

Prosecutors in Regensburg revealed on Monday that an Afghan asylum seeker who stabbed a five-year-old boy to death on Saturday was wearing an ankle monitor at the time.

Man who murdered young child in refugee home was ex-convict
Police investigators at Arnschwang. Photo: DPA

The man had been convicted of arson by a Munich court in 2009 and sentenced to five years and ten months in jail, the prosecutors revealed.

Since then he had been wearing an electronic ankle monitor, which was intended to prevent him leaving the refugee camp in Arnschwang, near the Czech border, where the crime took place.

Munich tried to have the man deported in 2014, but he fought a successful legal case against the expulsion, claiming that he had converted to Christianity and that his life would be in danger in Afghanistan as a result.

Prosecutors did not go into further details on why the crime occurred.

On Saturday evening, the 41-year-old took the young boy hostage, before fatally injuring him with a knife. In the subsequent police operation, officers shot the man and he died of his wounds.

The young child’s mother was also seriously injured in the confrontation with the man. She was treated in hospital for serious stab wounds, but they are not considered to be life-threatening.

The family, which also includes a six-year-old boy, were asylum seekers from Russia.

BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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