By Matthew Becker
Ibrahim C. (22) was already a criminal at the age of twelve. By the time he was 13, he had committed 13 assaults, three robberies and other crimes. But he never went to prison.
The public prosecutor wants to change that now: The court has admitted the charge of attacking a taxi driver (60). The 22-year-old, who works in the security industry after training as a security guard, faces a prison sentence of at least five years.
On August 31, 2022, Ibrahim C. is said to have gotten into a taxi at 5:30 p.m. to be driven to the Holzhauser Straße (Tegel) underground station. Fare: 15 euros. In order not to have to pay the taxi wage, he is said to have sprayed tear gas in the driver’s face, according to the district court. Because of this act and another threat and insult, Ibrahim C. is now before the judge.
His defense attorney Ehssan Khazaeli sees “thin” evidence. He says to the BZ: “Because of the low value, I assume a less serious case and expect an acquittal or a suspended sentence.”
Ibrahim C. comes from the problem neighborhood Märkisches Viertel. His mother left the family when he was still in primary school and moved to Sweden. She lost contact with her son. The father remarried in 2009. The boy lived with him and his stepmother. But in 2014 he became a problem child: he didn’t keep to agreements, was unpunctual and couldn’t keep up at school. Since that time, the police have listed him as an “intensive offender”, and since 2016 the public prosecutor’s office has included him in their file.
Ibrahim C. came to a home in northern Germany and was also noticed there because of his aggressiveness. In April 2016 he was on trial for assault, but the case was dropped – it was just a warning. In 2016, Ibrahim C. returned to his father and finished school in 2018. But he did not calm down: in August 2018 he was “warned” in four cases of drug trafficking, and the proceedings were discontinued.
Today Ibrahim C. works as a security guard. But supervisors and police still consider him violent and aggressive – even towards helpless people, such as the disabled Uber driver, whom he is said to have sprayed with tear gas.