The case began last year on a children’s playground in Dresden. Wiens was sitting on a child’s swing. Ms al-Shirbini, who was wearing a headscarf, asked him to move so that she could push her two-year-old boy. Wiens, a Russian of ethnic origin who had emigrated from Siberia in 2003, yelled at her, accusing her of being an “Islamicist” and a “terrorist”. Ms al-Shirbini decided to press charges and the man was duly fined. But he challenged the judgment.
By the time the case came to court in July last year, Ms al-Shirbini was three months’ pregnant. In court, the killer removed a long knife from under his jacket and stabbed her 18 times. Her husband tried to stop the attack but was stabbed 16 times.
When a policeman arrived, he ended up shooting the husband in the leg rather than the assailant. The scene was witnessed by the couple’s three-year-old son.
