An illegal migrant with a long criminal history has brutally murdered a 54-year-old woman on a Vienna street while she was on her way to work.

News headlines in Austria Wednesday morning were focused on one topic, the brutal killing of a 54-year-old woman by an illegal migrant from Kenya. The woman was walking down the street at 2:30am on her way to work with a colleague when the man, armed with an iron bar, bludgeoned her to death. The two women worked as cleaners for so-called gambling cafes reports OE24 .

The victim of the attack died on the spot according to police who said that she suffered massive head injuries. The 21-year-old Kenyan who carried out the attack was arrested by the police a short time later near the scene of the crime, according to Police spokesman Christoph Poelzl.

The entire attack took place at the Brunnenmarkt in the district of Ottakring known for two things in Vienna: Ottakringer beer and a large migrant population.

Poelzl described the witness account of the attack saying that immediately after the two women exited their car they were approached by the migrant. He came from between two market stalls and began viciously attacking the 54-year-old. The savage blows to the head ensured that even when help did arrive, it was too late to save her life.

The colleague of the victim hid behind one of the market stalls, and called police along with a witness in a nearby apartment who saw the murder from a window.

Police say that the 21-year-old Kenyan is well known to them. They say that the man had come to Austria on a visa in 2008 and when his visa expired he had simply refused to leave, staying in the country illegally.

In July 2014 courts ruled that he should be deported, and police noted he had not applied for asylum in Austria contrary to some media reports.

The migrant has a long history of criminality including two convictions in 2011 and 2013, and was wanted by police for repeated offences since 2014. He is even said to have committed a similar attack in the Ottakring district with a metal bar back in May of 2015.

This first attack saw only slight injuries to the victim, and while the migrant had been taken to court he was still awaiting sentencing. A total of 18 offences from civil disorder to theft, criminal damage and aggravated assault have all been included in his criminal record.

The 21-year-old Kenyan is currently being assessed by psychiatric professionals. However, they lament that it is slow work because a translator has had to be brought in, as the migrant does not appear to speak German.

The hipster-right Identitarian movement sent out a press release regarding the attack commenting: “Austrians are now slaughtered in public by immigrants.” It noted “the fact that a repatriation agreement doesn’t exist between Austria and states like Kenya is just more proof for the failures of our government’s foreign policy. The politics of integration have failed.”