Knife attack in the Schuman metro: the assailant will not go to a psychiatric institute

The man who attacked three people with a knife in the Schuman station on Monday January 30 will not ultimately be placed in a psychiatric institute. “The chamber of the council which was held on March 3 decided to maintain preventive detention”explains Stefan Vandevelde, spokesperson for the Brussels public prosecutor’s office.

“He threatened and stabbed people with a knife, but it was only because of his illness”

According to the assailant’s father, his son’s place is not in prison but in a psychiatric institute. “He is bipolar and takes medication for it. If he forgets them, he panics completely. This is what happened during the attack. He threatened and stabbed people with a knife, but it was only because of his illness”affirmed the father of Anwar H., 30 years old and who has already made three stays in psychiatry.

“In psychiatric care, it is difficult to find a place for each patient”: at the Fond’Roy Clinic, we welcome souls dented by the crisis

This will not be the case and the preventive detention of the suspect has been extended. The assault left three injured, two men aged 25 and 40 and a woman aged 47. The days of the youngest of the three victims were, at first, in danger.

The incident occurred around 5:45 p.m. during rush hour. The assailant injured three people in a metro train arriving from Schuman station before spreading terror on the surface of the station, next to the shops. The thesis of the terrorist attack was quickly dismissed.

The metro station had been cordoned off and a large security perimeter had been erected by the police.

After being restrained and handcuffed by the police, the individual was interviewed during the night. It was then made available to the investigating judge appointed by the Brussels public prosecutor’s office. She decided to place him under an arrest warrant for attempted murder. He will remain in prison until the next hearing of the council chamber.

Young, active, more French-speaking than Flemish: the number of depressed people is exploding, but why has their profile changed?

A call for better cooperation between the police services, the prosecution and the mental health services had, in the wake of the attack, been launched by Olivier Slosse, head of the Brussels-North police zone, in front of the House Justice Committee.