Life sentence in Germany for man who knifed schoolgirls

A 27-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for murder and attempted murder after attacking two schoolgirls in southern Germany, reported dpa.

The knife attack in the town of Illerkirchberg in December provoked anger across the country.

The Ulm Regional Court ruled on Tuesday that the nature of the crime was an aggravating factor meaning he should not be eligible for early release.

The convict is a 27-year-old Eritrean who had come to Germany as an asylum seeker.

He attacked two girls aged 13 and 14 with a knife on their way to school in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

The 13-year-old girl was able to flee, her 14-year-old friend - a German girl of Turkish origin - died of her injuries in hospital.

According to the court, the man actually wanted to kill an employee of the district administration office in a revenge attack. He blamed the agency for messing up his life because he could not travel to Africa without a passport to find a wife there.

Armed with a knife, he was just leaving in December for the district office when the two girls happened to pass his house.

Whether the convicted man will be deported to Eritrea during his sentence is not now known, according to the public prosecutor's office.

"He will basically serve his sentence here in Germany for the time being," the state prosecutor said. "Then there is the possibility that he will be deported," but "when that will be the case, after how many years, that remains to be seen," she added.