"Incomprehensible," prosecutor says about teacher's stabbing at primary school musical

“What type of family member would go to a primary school’s end-of-year musical with a knife? Many children saw their teacher lying on the floor, fighting for his life,” the public prosecutor said in the court of Rotterdam on Friday. He called the stabbing of the primary school teacher at the event “serious and incomprehensible.”

A parent stabbed the 53-year-old teacher during the children’s event at the cultural center on Haven in Alblasserdam on July 16th. The teacher was trying to break up an argument between three men when one of them stabbed him. According to the prosecutor, it was “a long-standing conflict between two families.”

Suspect Mohammed U. (45) from Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht has been in custody for over three months on suspicion of two counts of attempted manslaughter. U. was sitting in the auditorium that evening towards the end of recess when two men entered and punched him, the prosecutor said. “He jumped up and chased after them. “ During the confrontation between U. and one of the men, the teacher stepped in. U. allegedly turned around and stabbed the teacher.

The victim was badly hurt. He still has physical complaints, but has since mainly struggled with mental health issues. “He needs time to recover before he can teach again, which is what he loves to do,” a spokesperson from Names de Familie said on the teacher’s behalf.

U. did not attend this first preliminary hearing in the case against him. He is still undergoing a psychological evaluation and will be questioned again by the police.

According to his lawyer, U. was not the one who brought the knife to the children’s event. “My client is not the one who sought the confrontation,” the lawyer stressed, blaming the other two suspects - a man from Alblasserdam and his brother from Drieborg in Groningen. They were released from custody on July 21, but are still suspects.

The man from Alblasserdam was also injured in the incident and had to undergo hospital treatment. U.’s lawyer suggested that he likely took the knife to the school musical. “The attending physician found a knife on him. He can also be seen in footage with something resembling a knife in his hands. The brothers retrieved the knife at the hospital,” U.’s lawyer said. “The man accompanied the police to the location where he said he discarded the knife. The police found the sheath there, but not the knife.”

The case will continue in January with another preliminary hearing.