Vivien K.
born: 1994
Attempted murder: 24 March 2018
Place of residence: Burgwedel (Lower Saxony)
Origin: Victims: Germany; perpetrators: Syria/Palestinians
Children: none
Perpetrator: Abdullah A. (bl. 17 y.)

This attempted murder should not appear in this archive at first. The victim is a random victim, so there is no honour motive, at least not in the classical sense.

However, the perpetrator later states that honour is the motive for the crime. Therefore we take the case anyway. The perpetrators are 3 young Palestinians who came to Germany from Syria in 2013.

On March 24, 2018 the cashier Vivien and her friend Domenic (25 y.) will go shopping. It comes to a scramble with 2 young Syrians (13 & 14 years). They bring the 17-year-old Abdullah for reinforcement. He rams a knife into Vivien's stomach. Domenic calls the ambulance. Vivien survives by an emergency operation, lies several days in an artificial coma.

First, the charge is "only" of assault and battery. Allegedly, the perpetrator withdrew from his attempt to kill during the crime. Later, the charge of attempted manslaughter is changed. According to a medical opinion, the perpetrator did everything to kill his victim.

In the interrogation, Abdullah calls himself a model fugitive. This fits in a bit with the attitude that honour killers are convinced that they did the right thing. Later, another brother tries to justify the act. Vivien had insulted the young Palestinians.

In August the trial begins at the Hanover Regional Court in camera. A statement is read by the accused that he does not understand why he is in custody. He had seen the dispute as a violation of honour, which allowed him to kill a human being. Abdullah has been living in Germany for 5 years. He dropped out of school.

In September Abdullah is sentenced to 5 years in prison for attempted manslaughter. One of his brothers involved in the brawl is 14-year-old Mohamad. He has to be under "permanent arrest" for 2 weeks and then to "social training". One can assume that the success of the "social training" is not checked. The 13-year-old cousin is of unpunitive age. Whether the stated age of the participants was checked is unknown.

The victim remains severely disabled to 30 percent. Abdullah's mother breaks down screaming in court. As this is a juvenile sentence, the offender could be released after only one third of his imprisonment.