Stuttgart, Germany - A Sri Lankan man who caused a bloodbath in a Tamil Methodist church in Germany last April was judged insane by a German court Wednesday and was ordered into detention at a German mental hospital.
Charged with the manslaughter of a 43-year-old woman and wounding three others, the man, 25, claimed the voice of God had told him to attack the congregation with a samurai sword in the city of Stuttgart.
The bizarre attack on April 3 in the Tamil Church of Christ in the industrial suburb of Zuffenhausen happened as 70 members of the ethnic community were watching a film about the December 26, 2004 tsunami tragedy in their homeland. One man's hand was cut off.
German surgeons sewed the hand back on in a 16-hour operation and treated stab wounds to the belly of a 52-year-old man and neck wounds suffered by a 34-year-old woman.
During the trial, the defendant's brother described to the court how the accused slipped into a religious mania that the family was helpless to prevent.