An adult school pupil suspected of stabbing a Nigerian footballer in the Lithuanian city of Alytus had allegedly been planning a serious violent crime for approximately two years, though his victim appears to be chosen at random, prosecutors have said.
The attack took place more than a week ago on Naujoji Street in Alytus, in broad daylight.
The victim, Chinonso Jeremiah Obi, a player for local football club Dainava, was knocked to the ground and stabbed with a knife as he made his way to the club's base. He was taken to Alytus County Stasys Kudirka Hospital before being transferred to Kaunas Clinics, but was subsequently discharged to continue his recovery at home.
According to Alytaus naujienos, the footballer was stabbed in the abdomen and thigh, and his hand was also injured.
"Never been more grateful to be alive," Chinonso wrote on social media, thanking God and his supporters for their good wishes.
The suspected attacker is a young adult in his final year at the Jotvingiai high school in Alytus. He has been remanded in custody for the maximum period of three months, on the grounds that he may attempt to evade law enforcement or commit further offences.
Representatives of the Nigerian embassy in Lithuania visited Obi this Monday to enquire about his health and his living and sporting conditions in Lithuania.
Racial hatred suspected
Prosecutors leading the pre-trial investigation told regional outlet Alytaus naujienos that initial evidence suggests the suspected attacker had been planning a serious crime for around two years, but that the victim was selected at random.
When asked to specify what crime had been planned, prosecutor Vytautas Gataveckas of the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor's Office said that, based on initial data, it would have been murder.
Asked whether there were grounds to suspect a racial motive, the prosecutor's office said that circumstances relating to qualifying factors – including racial hatred – would be confirmed or ruled out once the necessary investigative steps had been completed. However, Gataveckas confirmed that initial data and indicators pointing to racial hatred do exist.
Should the attempted murder be found to have been racially motivated, the charge would be reclassified under a different provision of the Criminal Code, carrying a significantly heavier sentence – between eight and twenty years' imprisonment, or life.
Searches have been carried out as part of the investigation, including at the suspect's home. The prosecutor's office declined to comment on the results of these or other procedural measures at the current stage of the inquiry.
The high school attended by the suspect was described as deeply shaken by the news. The school confirmed that the pupil in question is in his final year and has already reached the age of majority.
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