The native Romanian took note of the guilty verdict for human trafficking, intentional grievous bodily harm and numerous other offenses with stoic calm.
After consultation with his legal representative Tina Mende (law firm Mathias Burger), the previously blameless man requested time to think about it. Public prosecutor Philipp Coufal, who had demanded a “hard punishment” in the closing speech (“It has never happened to me here that such injuries are inflicted on someone out of sheer greed for money”), initially gave no explanation. The judgment is therefore not final.
The Bulgarian came to Vienna in the spring of 2017 to build a better life for herself. Instead, she fell into the clutches of the alleged human trafficker, who initially had the woman work for him. Then, without the knowledge of the woman, who does not speak German and who can neither read nor write, he took out several accident insurance policies. After using her for a while for various activities from which he earned money – which, according to the prosecutor’s office, were largely fraudulent activities – in June 2018 he is said to have forced the woman to lie on the floor in the bathroom, to burn her left eye. He then took her to the hospital and claimed that while she was cleaning, she had gotten the cleaning agent in her eyes.
According to the judgment of the first instance, the accused was authorized to sign for the account closed in the woman’s name and collected the insurance payment for the alleged accident – around 30,000 euros. On top of that. Three weeks later, the 41-year-old is said to have gone to Hungary with the Bulgarian, where he is said to have tied her to a door with an accomplice who is still unknown to the judiciary and chopped off the thumb of her left hand. He then declared this as an accident at work, for which he collected a total of 25,000 euros from three insurance companies.
The accused admitted to the jury panel that he had committed order fraud. He denied the main allegations. He had “helped the now 57-year-old woman so that she could earn money”. He initially had them hand out notes. At her friend’s request, he assured her “because she’s clumsy when she moves.”
The defendant claimed that he had used them for cleaning work. In the course of this activity, she injured herself one day through no fault of her own. He had never been to Hungary with his wife. She went there with her partner and severed her thumb while gardening. That too was an accident. The defendant also denied other facts included in the indictment – a punch in the face, a knocked out tooth, threats of death if the woman did not parry.
With his responsibility, the 41-year-old lost out in court in the end. “You won’t find anyone who believes you. And we didn’t do it either,” said the presiding judge, Ulrich Nachtlberger.
Source: Nachrichten
