Iraqi migrant suspected in rape and murder of German-Jewish girl
The girl from Mainz was reported missing on May 22 and was found dead on Wednesday in a wooded area.
By REUTERSUpdated: JUNE 10, 2018 15:11German police gather near Wiesbaden-Erbenheim, Germany, June 6, 2018.(photo credit: REUTERS/THORSTEN WAGNER)
WIESBADEN, Germany - German officials on Thursday said an Iraqi man suspected of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl together with another migrant had likely fled the country and returned to Iraq.Iraqi Kurdish police say man admits to murder of 14-year-old girl in Germany, June 9, 2018 (Reuters) autoplayThe girl from Mainz, near Frankfurt, was reported missing on May 22 and was found dead on Wednesday in a wooded area near train tracks, according to police.The Central Council of Jews in Germany said the girl, identified only as Susanna, and her mother were members of the Jewish community in Mainz, but it cautioned against any premature conclusions about the motive behind the crime."Many of the details of the case are still unclear. We expect a rapid and comprehensive investigation from the prosecutorial authorities, and hard consequences for the perpetrator or perpetrators," the group said in a statement.Police said they were looking for 20-year-old Ali Bashar, who they believe fled to Erbil, Iraq, with his family only days ago. A second suspect, a 35-year-old Turkish citizen who was not named, was detained hours after the girl's body was found.A spokesman for the Wiesbaden police said there was no evidence at the moment that the girl's religion played a role in the crime.Wiesbaden senior public prosecutor Oliver Kuhn told reporters that both suspects "lived in refugee centers in Wiesbaden," a city on the Rhine river across from Mainz.Kuhn said investigators believed the girl had been the victim of "a collective rape and murder."Police were tipped to the location of the body and the identity of one of the suspected attackers by a 13-year-old migrant who came to the Wiesbaden police station on Sunday.
