He will be spending the rest of his days in prison for deliberately driving his car through families in Germany celebrating Carnival last year.
Maurice Pahler, 31, was handed the life term by a court in Kassel on Thursday, after being convicted of 89 counts of attempted murder over the February 24 attack.
Pahler had driven his Mercedes into crowds watching an annual Rose Monday parade in the town of Volkmarsen, central Germany, at 35mph – ploughing through bodies for 140ft and injuring 90 people, including 26 children, in the process.
Maurice Pahler (31 years old) was sentenced to life imprisonment after hitting his car in crowds during a German carnival last year. The incident caused 90 injuries, including 26 children.
Pahler was found guilty of the attempted murder of 89 and serious bodily injury of 88. Prosecutors said that Pahler planned and purchased a dashcam to record it.
However, no one was hurt. Prosecutors said Pahler intended to kill people and that he even purchased a dashcam in order to stream the carnage live.
There has been no motive given and Pahler (who is also white) has refused to answer questions. His trial was not interrupted by his testimony.
Sentencing him, judges in Kassel told Pahler that his only chance of seeing the outside world again will be to cooperate with psychologists and explain his mindset.
After 25 years, he’ll be eligible for parole if he agrees to cooperate. Failure to cooperate could result in death.
The court was told by the prosecution that Pahler planned to attack and parked his car in an area where he could drive through spectators lined up along a parade route on the next day.
Pahler drove through the crowds at 2.40pm, just 35 minutes after the start of the parade.
Pahler did not give any motive for the attack. He has never spoken with police and refused to testify.
Volkmarsen was a town of approximately 6,800 people in central Germany that suffered the attack.
Witnesses said that bodies were thrown in the air, littering ground and being cheered on by the crowd.
Bild reports that the attack was stopped by a 16 year-old girl who managed to open Pahler’s car and take the keys from the ignition.
Pahler was then pulled from his vehicle by several crowds, and several others tried to execute him.
The police managed to stop the crowd. One man was heard asking an officer for his service weapon.
Pahler, who was not allowed to speak when he was taken into custody, did not give any testimony during the interview nor at trial and also refused to talk with psychologists.
A psychological report presented in court said Pahler has narcissistic and paranoid-schizophrenic traits, but was otherwise sane when he carried out the attack.