An Afghan migrant has been arrested and remanded in custody after allegedly sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl at knifepoint in a bathroom at a special needs school in Germany, in an attack that has left parents in the area demanding answers about how two older men were able to access school grounds undetected.
The girl, identified only as Samira to protect her identity, attends the Hans Zulliger School in Koblenz. On 28 April she briefly left her classroom to use the bathroom when she was allegedly attacked by a man and an accomplice. According to her family’s lawyer, Bilal Colak, one of the two men pulled down his trousers during the assault and a knife was involved. Samira, too frightened to speak immediately, confided in her sister several days later. Her family filed a police report and the suspect, an unemployed man identified only as Nassar S, was arrested and has been held in pretrial detention since 5 May.
Friends of Samira told German newspaper BILD that they had seen two significantly older men in the schoolyard on the day of the attack. A classmate noted that Samira had been in the bathroom for approximately 20 minutes during a lesson. Concerned parents in the neighbourhood told BILD that both men were known locally as “troublemakers” who specifically targeted young girls. Prosecutors in Koblenz have confirmed that investigations into a possible accomplice are ongoing. Nassar S is also accused of abusing a second girl, with a senior public prosecutor confirming that a further criminal complaint for an alleged sexual offence has been filed against him.
The school has responded by establishing a crisis team including school social workers, counsellors, psychologists, inspectors and police representatives. Structural modifications have been made to the school entrance, additional adults have been assigned to supervise children during breaks, and an intercom system with video function is already in place. Counselling services have been made available to students.
For parents in the area, the incident has raised profound questions about safety. “If our children aren’t even safe at school anymore — where are they?” one mother, who now collects her daughter from school each day, told BILD.
The attack comes amid a series of high-profile sexual violence cases making headlines across Germany. In April, a Munich court sentenced Zhongyi J, a 28-year-old Chinese student, to 11 years and three months in prison after finding him guilty of two counts of attempted murder and seven counts of aggravated rape. The judge described his crimes as “monstrous acts,” saying the case had entered “uncharted legal territory.” Prosecutors said he had knowingly administered life-threatening doses of sedatives and anaesthetics to drug and rape his neighbour at least seven times between February and December 2024.
The case formed part of a broader investigation into eight men who communicated through a Telegram group called the “German Driving School,” in which members used coded language to discuss sedatives, dosages and victims — referring to women as “luxury cars” and unconscious victims as “dead pigs.” “Looking for a car” meant searching for a new victim; “oil” or “fuel” referred to sedatives. Members shared photographs and video footage of their crimes within the group. Almost all of the accused were Chinese nationals living in Germany, and their victims — those identified — were almost exclusively Chinese women who were the men’s partners, colleagues or acquaintances, most of whom were unaware of what had happened until contacted by police.
Charlotte Hirz, a psychologist at LARA, a Berlin resource centre for victims of sexualised violence, told DW that what made the case particularly striking was “simply the dehumanisation that becomes so clear in the way the perpetrators treat the victims: comparing them to cars or even calling them dead pigs.”
