Image source – RTE
Two schoolgirls in Germany have confessed to stabbing a 12-year-old girl to death, police said, in a case that shocked the nation, reports RTE.
The victim, known as Luise, disappeared on Saturday afternoon after leaving a friend’s house near the town of Freudenberg in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Luise’s body was found the next day in a wooded area not far from her home.
Koblenz prosecutor Mario Mannweiler told a press conference: “The child died as a result of numerous knife wounds and the resulting loss of blood,” adding that there was “no indication of a sexual offence”, reports RTE.
Florian Locker, head of the Koblenz police homicide department, said two girls aged 12 and 13 confessed to the murder.
Florian Locker said, two girls “made statements about the matter and in the end admitted the crime,” reports RTE.
Mr Manweiler said the girls and Luise knew each other.
But he declined to give further details due to the age of the suspects, who are too young in Germany to be held criminally responsible for their actions.
The age of criminal responsibility in Germany starts at 14.
Mr Mannweiler said investigators have not yet located the knife or knives used in the attack.
“This is of course a very unusual and shocking act, even for us,” Mr Mannweiler told reporters, reports RTE.
Luise’s school changed its homepage to a condolence message.
“We lost our pupil, classmate and friend Luise at the weekend. Far too early, she was violently torn from our midst and from her family. Our thoughts and wishes are with her family and friends now and in the coming days,” the Esther-Bejarano comprehensive school in Freudenberg said in the statement, reports RTE.
The case brought back memories of the infamous 1993 murder of two-year-old James Bulger in England. The boy was kidnapped and tortured before being killed by two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and John Venables.
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