Homicide with a screwdriver and simulation of a similar offence by self-infliction of injuries.

In an underground garage of a department store, a 52-year-old woman was attacked and fatally wounded by several stabs with a screwdriver. The offence happened as the woman was getting into her car. The homicide itself and the subsequent trial were extensively covered in the local media. A few days before the judgement was pronounced, another attack in an underground garage was reported to the police of the town, where the homicide had happened. A 52-year-old woman claimed to have been hurt by an assailant. The wound pattern (several equally shallow cuts arranged in groups), however, suggested self-infliction, which was finally admitted by the informant. The 'victim' used a newly bought kitchen knife to cut herself and left it at the place of the alleged assault. The knife blade was soiled with blood. Referring to the pertinent literature both cases are compared with regard to the injury characteristics and to the damage to the clothing. The morphological features of screwdriver injuries, the criteria differentiating self-infliction and assault as well as the manifestation of copycat offences are discussed.