The man who stabbed two American tourists at Amsterdam’s central station in vengeance for Geert Wilders’ cartoon competition should be jailed for 25 years, the public prosecution department said at his trial on Tuesday.

Describing the attacks as ‘shocking’, the public prosecutor said that the impact had been enormous. ‘The random choice of victims is especially frightening,’ he said. ‘He has not shown any remorse and would even appear to be a little proud of what he did.’

S had travelled by train from his home in Germany to Amsterdam where he attacked two people standing by an information desk before he was overpowered by police. They were both seriously injured and one is no longer able to walk.

S, a 20-year-old Afghan refugee, refused to name Wilders in person, but it made clear on Monday that the Muhammed cartoon contest was the motive for his journey.

In previous hearings S. said he had no regrets about his actions and was prepared to die ‘a martyr’, but on Monday he added: ‘If I’d known they were tourists I wouldn’t have touched them.

The wife of one of his victims said in court on Tuesday that she hoped S, whom she described as a ‘lost boy’, would become a friendly person. ‘You do not represent refugees,’ she said. ‘We were refugees once and were given an opportunity in a fantastic country.’ According to broadcaster NOS, the woman and the others came originally from Eritrea.