Mass murder perpetrator in Germany said to have resided in Spain after fleeing 'grave sexual assalt' trial

The perpetrator of the murder of six people at a centre for children and mothers that took place in the German town of Strade last week used to live in Spain. The investigators have found that he would freely move between European countries after fleeing a trial for "grave sexual assault" in Turkey, his country by citizenship.

The police quickly arrested Fatih. G., 45, who was embroiled in a custody dispute over his three-month-old daughter and "had a meeting with several of the victims for that purpose". An investigation by a local media outlet now reveals how easily he moved around Europe, evading justice despite having a criminal record.

Investigations by the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung have said that Fatih G. repeatedly deceived authorities and hid in several countries, despite an arrest warrant in Turkey for a serious sexual assault in 2007, when he was 26 years old.

He moved freely from country to country, establishing himself as a business owner. In addition to residing in Germany and Austria, he also lived in Spain, where he ran a business in the construction sector.

What he lived on, however, remains unclear. The businesses he opened in different countries never turned a profit, but he could have continued his lifestyle had the separation and subsequent custody battle not led to a premeditated murder.

According to the investigation, Fatih G. had bought the murder weapon (a Beretta Model 70 and 21 cartridges) in Berlin for 4,000 euros, a week before committing the crime.

Fatih G. was born in Goslar and graduated from high school in Germany, though he always retained his Turkish citizenship. Upon reaching adulthood, he moved to the Gaziantep region of Turkey, about 60 kilometres north of the Syrian border. It was there that Turkish judicial authorities accused him of "serious sexual assault" and issued an arrest warrant, from which he fled back to Germany.

He later told German authorities that he had lived in Georgia between 2017 and 2019 and then in Latvia until 2023, in addition to maintaining residences in Austria and Germany. According to his own statements, he founded companies in several countries. Stays in Morocco were also mentioned.

In 2022, he was again the target of accusations by Turkish authorities in connection with a sexual offence against his partner's daughter from a previous marriage. Turkish court documents record the "escape of a convicted person or a person detained in pretrial detention".

At the end of that year, Fatih G. reportedly deregistered from the foreign office in Braunschweig, presumably concerned about the impact of the Turkish arrest warrant. However, there is no official confirmation that he left Germany. He later applied for asylum in Croatia, but was denied due to the Dublin regulation (a European law that determines which single country is responsible for processing an asylum application).

Believing the danger had passed, he eventually returned to Germany, where he had been living near Hanover, in Garbsen, with his new partner and their son.

His partner, a woman from Hesse, already had two children. She had previously experienced psychological and family difficulties and had at one point been reported missing. Following the killings in Stade, she voluntarily presented herself to police in Goslar. It remains unclear whether she knew about the allegations against Fatih G. in Turkey or about his three failed marriages.

Investigators are now examining what they believe may be a pattern of behaviour. The couple were not married and there are indications that Fatih deliberately formed relationships with single mothers who may have been particularly vulnerable before allegedly abusing their children.

The police have not disclosed what information the German authorities held about his background or whether this prompted the youth welfare office and the family court to intervene after a three-month-old baby was admitted to hospital with brain haemorrhages. According to medical reports, doctors suspected the injuries may have been caused by abusive head trauma.

Another unanswered question concerns the 65-year-old woman who was driving the car in which Fatih G. fled after the six killings. She is the mother-in-law of Lower Saxony's State Commissioner for Migration, Deniz Kurku, a Social Democrat, and works for an organisation supporting binational families.

She has said that she was with Fatih G. as a friend, not in any professional capacity, when she accompanied him to a meeting with youth welfare office staff at the reception centre and when they fled after the shooting. She has described herself as the three-month-old baby's godmother and has not returned to work since the incident.

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