Was on an unaccompanied escape Suspected perpetrator from Basel arrested

After a one-day escape, the police have arrested the suspect in the Basel homicide. The 32-year-old Swiss national was on an unaccompanied escape.

Keystone-SDA

09.08.2024, 19:41

09.08.2024, 20:05

SDA

After a one-day escape, the police arrested the suspect in the Basel homicide on Friday afternoon. The 32-year-old was on an unaccompanied escape.

The arrest was made at around 2.30 p.m. following a tip-off from a third party on Unterer Rheinweg, according to a statement. The public prosecutor's office had previously issued a public search warrant.

The arrested Swiss national is "urgently" suspected of having killed a 75-year-old woman in an apartment building on Nasenweg in Basel's Breite district on Thursday. The criminal investigation department is now investigating the exact course of events, according to a statement.

The suspect is a repeat offender who was in the University Psychiatric Clinics in Basel. The man, who suffers from schizophrenia, had already stabbed two women and seriously injured an elderly man with a knife in the same neighborhood on November 3, 2014. He was arrested at the scene of the crime. This was confirmed by a spokesperson for the Basel public prosecutor's office to the Keystone-SDA news agency. The "Basler Zeitung" had previously reported on the incident.

Potential danger assessed by doctors

As confirmed by the Department of Justice and Security on Friday evening at the request of Keystone-SDA, the man was on temporary, unaccompanied release. It was also not his first.

Offenders in inpatient measures are regularly medically examined by the treating doctors to assess their current condition, a spokesperson wrote. Measures can be relaxed on the basis of forensic psychiatric reports or therapy reports.

The measures range from accompanied exits on the hospital premises to temporary unaccompanied exits outside. "If a person with an ordered measure and a serious underlying offense is on unaccompanied leave, a medical report from the treating doctors has previously assessed the corresponding risk potential," it continued.

High risk of relapse without treatment

In September 2015, the Basel criminal court ordered inpatient psychiatric treatment for the man with a severe mental illness. It found that the culpable offender had committed multiple murders and attempted murder. The psychiatric report stated at the time that without treatment, the risk of recidivism for serious offenses is high.

As the Basel newspaper "bz Basel" wrote, the inpatient measure was extended by a further five years in 2020. However, the man has reportedly been granted several relaxations since 2017, such as supervised release.