What happens when you bring people over from a culture that glorifies and sanctifies violence and make no attempt to require them to accept the mores of the welcoming country?
“Afghan (26) pushes a mother with two small children in front of a moving car,” translated from “Afghane (26) stößt Mutter mit zwei kleinen Kindern vor fahrendes Auto,” by Michael Koch, Exxpress, March 16, 2023 (thanks to Medforth):
In his opening statement, the public prosecutor called for the law to be fully harsh on the accused Afghan. It was pure luck that the mother and the two children (5, 7), who were walking on a sidewalk in Biel, survived the attack with only minor injuries. Out of frustration and without any prior warning, the asylum seeker pushed passers-by onto the road. It was only thanks to the quick reactions of a BMW driver that the deadly tragedy did not occur. With an emergency stop he saved the mother and the children.
As a witness in court, the BMW driver was still under the influence of the dramatic events. “I couldn’t avoid it at all, a bus was coming towards me on the opposite lane. That I still managed to brake is a miracle. I’m so grateful,” he said.
The accused came to Switzerland with the wave of refugees in 2015 and has drifted further and further since then, addicted to alcohol. He had no explanation for his baseless attack on the defenseless family, as he explained in the dock with the help of an interpreter in Farsi: “It went silly, I just pushed someone aside.”
And he’s not a violent person at all. Which may be doubted after the course of the process so far. After a short interruption of the trial, the trial day had to be called off. During the break, the accused had physically attacked his translator. The Afghan, who is facing a long prison sentence, was led away in handcuffs.
The verdict is expected to be handed down on Friday.
