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An eight-year-old boy was killed in the attack and his mother was injured
An Eritrean man is set to go on trial in Germany over the death of an eight-year-old boy who was hit by a train last year.
Habte Araya, 41, is accused of driving the boy and his mother on the tracks at Frankfurt’s headquarters during an episode of paranoid schizophrenia.
Mr. Araya had “at least a considerably diminished capacity” to control his actions, prosecutors say.
But he could also find that he had committed murder.
The costs could be increased if Mr Araya is considered to be “deliberately exploited by the victims’ defenselessness”.
Currently, the father of three is accused of murder and attempted murder, and prosecutors have asked him to be placed in a psychiatric institution.
What do we know about the attack?
Mr. Araya is accused of having the couple on the tracks for a train arriving during the incident on July 29 last year.
The mother was able to roll away from her and escape, but the boy was immediately killed.
Mr. Araya is also accused of trying to push a 78-year-old woman on the track, but the woman managed to survive.
Witnesses said a man was then chased and stopped by passers-by.
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Mr Araya had no connection to the victims and had no drugs or alcohol in his system, police said.
The case was widely covered in German media, and more than 100,000 euros (£ 90,000; $ 120,000) was raised for the boy’s family in the days following the attack.
It also triggered a heated debate on immigration and crime in Germany.
While Mr Araya entered the country legally in though Switzerland, where he was granted asylum in 2009, police said he was on the run after a violent incident in Zurich last week.
But he was not named as wanted in European police databases and could cross borders freely, police say.
This prompted politicians from the nationalist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) to push harder borders. Others called for improved security at train stations, and last week a government spokesman said plans to implement this were underway.
