A rejected Pakistani asylum seeker in Germany is feared to have fled to the UK after slashing the throat of his two-year-old daughter, police say.
Interpol is involved in the hunt for a 33-year-old man identified as Sohail A, who police say murdered his child following a violent row with his wife at their home on the north German city of Hamburg on Monday.
UK police have been notified as a matter of urgency as Hamburg detectives believe he may have relatives in the country.
The young girl, Aeyesha, was left alone in the apartment with her father on Monday when her mother, Lubna, went to police to report her husband’ s violence. Pictured above, officers remove Aeyesha’s body from the crime scene
it comes after, the young girl, Aeyesha, was left alone in the apartment with her father on Monday when her mother, Lubna, went to police to report her husband’ s violence – the third time she had done so.
She returned with officers to find her daughter murdered and no sign of her husband. There has been no trace of the man since his disappearance.
Sohail had remained in Germany six years after authorities rejected his asylum application.
He was last seen making his way to Hamburg main railway station where express trains link up to a network that could have taken him anywhere on the continent.
The case has reignited the debate about Germany’s apparent lack of will to deport failed asylum seekers.
Thousands have been told they cannot stay but remain in the country using a variety of legal manouvres, including illness and false threats of violence awaiting them back in their homelands.
UK police have been notified as a matter of urgency as Hamburg detectives believe he may have relatives in the country. Pictured above, police investigate the crime scene
After the murder, it emerged that the victim’s family were on the radar of the authorities.
A spokesman for the local youth authority said: ‘The department had multiple contacts with the family. The security of the children was the main topic.’
Sohail A. came from Pakistan into Germany on December 21, 2011, and applied for asylum.
But just a month later the application was rejected because the grounds for it were deemed ‘not believable’.
On July 11, 2012, the judicial authorities deemed the decision legal in law, paving the way for deportation. It never happened.
Police have spent the last week searching for Solhail A, after he disappeared on Monday night
Solhail was last seen making his way to Hamburg main railway station where express trains link up to a network that could have taken him anywhere on the continent
‘Just why he was allowed to remain in Germany is not clear,’ said the daily newspaper Bild in a report about the murder and aftermath.
It was while awaiting deportation that he came to know Lubna, married her and fathered Aeyesha with her.
In April this year he launched an emergency action at Hamburg’s Administrative Court to be allowed to stay on in the country.
According to media reports, the judge in the case was informed by police of violence against his wife, leading him to get the Youth Authorities involved instead of ordering his expulsion.
Bild reported that social workers reported back to the court that they did not foresee a ‘worsening’ of the family situation.