Case of attempted murder of 10-year-old Ukrainian boy in Germany may be closed as new details have emerged

A prosecutor's office in Germany investigating an attack on a Ukrainian boy on a bridge in Einbeck, Lower Saxony, has reported a new version of events.

Source: DW, citing the prosecutor's office, reported by European Pravda

Details: The initial account of the attempted murder of the Ukrainian boy was based on eyewitness testimonies, traces of blood on the steel beams of the bridge, and hospital data. 

The prosecutor's office subsequently discovered that the boy's initial testimony was false.

The prosecutor's office says the boy was playing with other children in the canal itself, shouting swear words as a joke. They were approached by a man who spoke to the children in Russian, which they understood. 

The children apparently annoyed the man, and an argument broke out between them. When the 10-year-old boy started to get out of the canal and climbed onto the bridge’s steel supports, the man allegedly pulled on his T-shirt. The boy was under the impression that he was pushed into the water.

The police suggest that the child lost his balance but did not fall, even though he was in water that was about 20 centimetres deep.

The prosecutor's office asserts that the boy initially gave a false testimony. The child was allegedly afraid of how his parents would react to his dirty clothes and injuries he had sustained to his leg while playing.

According to the prosecutor's office, the man did throw a bottle in the boy's direction, but it has not been established whether this was deliberate and whether the bottle hit the boy. 

Whether the language conflict played a role in the dispute was not investigated in detail.

Given this new information, the case is likely to be closed, the prosecutor's office said.

It was not specified whether the man who confronted the children has been identified.

Background:

• On 1 September, it was reported that an unknown man had attacked a group of children, complaining about them speaking Ukrainian. He ordered them to speak Russian and then said that Ukraine had started the war. The incident was reported on social media on 26 August. 
• The Consulate General of Ukraine in Hamburg, Germany, asked Lower Saxony’s Interior Ministry to conduct a detailed investigation into the attack on the ten-year-old Ukrainian boy in the town of Einbeck.

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