German police ‘99% sure’ of stabbings link to Irish man

German police say they are "99 per cent sure" a man linked to three stabbings in Germany was Irish man Enda McLaughlin (27) from Cardonagh, Co Donegal.

They are waiting for fingerprint information from Ireland before officially identifying the man who stabbed three people before being hit by a car crossing the A4 motorway near Aachen.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday it was providing consular assistance to the family of a dead Irishman but declined to provide further information.

The drama began at 1am on Monday when Dutch taxi driver Jon van Alst received a call to collect a fare in Heerlen town. The passenger got into the front seat and asked to be driven 20km across the border to Aachen.

The man refused to wear his seatbelt and spent the journey watching the driver. With no signs of him being under the influence of drink or drugs, Mr van Alst took the fare.

On arrival at Aachen casino at about 1.20am, the passenger jumped out of the taxi without paying and was pursued by Mr van Alst.

"Then he rammed a knife into Jon's stomach without warning," Fred Ruijters, owner of the Heerlen taxi company, told The Irish Times. Mr van Alst underwent emergency surgery after his small intestine was punctured.

Mr Ruijters said his colleague was expected to be released early next week. “Jon had about €500 on him at the time so the guy’s motive wasn’t robbery.”

After stabbing the Dutch taxi-driver, the knife-wielding man demanded money from a passerby, an Aachen man (49). He refused and was also stabbed and taken to hospital.

“The two men are still receiving medical treatment but are not in a critical condition,” said Dr Jost Schützeberg, state prosecutor spokesman in Aachen. “They are very shocked, neither expected to be attacked with a knife.”

At about 1.25am, the man got into another taxi at an Aachen rank. The driver, Hamid Nazary, said he was taking him to a brothel in Merzernich, halfway between Aachen and Cologne.

"I've been driving taxis for 25 years and know how to read people. He seemed a little nervous but nothing unusual," Mr Nazary told The Irish Times.

When the passenger got out at a rest stop near Düren to use the toilet, the driver heard the radio dispatcher warn of a knife-wielding man of his description. “Just as he reached for the handle of the door to open it, I decided it was him, stepped on the gas pedal and sped away,” he said.

At 2.45am, as he sped away from the scene, he called the police, just as the man was stabbing an Estonian truck driver at the rest-stop. The attacker then ran on to the motorway where he was struck by a Mercedes. A postmortem at Cologne University Hospital revealed death was caused by multiple traumas from the impact.

A toxicology report, to establish if the man was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, will take about two weeks.