In a classroom in Krefeld, a student is said to have tried to kill a classmate. Since Monday, the 14-year-old has had to answer for attempted manslaughter in a juvenile criminal trial at the Krefeld district court, a court spokesman said.

On September 6, the girl is said to have pulled out a kitchen knife and stabbed her classmate twice in the neck. According to the indictment, the student acted with intent to kill: Only the intervention of a teacher prevented her from continuing to stab her victim.

The classmate was injured in the neck, but the stitches were not life-threatening. The wound, it is said, could be sewn up in the clinic with four stitches. The public prosecutor's office does not rule out that further similar acts can be expected from the young people. It could therefore be that their placement in a psychiatric ward would have to be examined.

For reasons of youth protection, the trial will take place behind closed doors. The accused was 14 years old at the time of the crime and therefore of criminal responsibility. Two more days of negotiations are scheduled for the process until mid-April.