Image: ALEXANDRA KREUZER (APA)
A 39-year-old had to answer for murder at the Innsbruck regional court on Tuesday. He was accused of killing his father in the state capital in September 2022 with a combat knife and at least 37 stab and cut injuries. The accused showed up at a police inspection that same evening and claimed to have committed murder. In the process, he denied any guilt and saw an insanity.
“I felt like I could control my fantasies”
The forensic psychiatrist confirmed the same. “I’m not the murderer, it’s the violent fantasy that used me,” the 39-year-old asserted before the jury. He is currently housed in the regional hospital in Hall. The accused described that he had often fought against violent fantasies in the past. On that fateful day, he felt he could control the imagination. So he drove to his father when he called him.
Treated multiple times
After they went shopping together, the violent fantasy dictated his actions. “Shortly before it happened, I didn’t feel anything at all,” the 39-year-old, who had already been hospitalized several times for his mental illness, told the court. The man described that he showered after the alleged crime and got dressed – he took the clothes with him because he actually wanted to go to another city to protect his father. Afterwards he went into the forest and wanted to live there – but after one night he realized that he couldn’t make it there. After attempting suicide, he called the police and said he had killed someone.
“No na ned it was murder”
The 39-year-old’s defense attorney had no doubt that his client was not of sound mind. “He didn’t commit murder,” he said, adding that the prosecutor’s office would actually drop the murder charge. He cited various expert opinions that attest to his insanity.
The prosecutor, in turn, said in his opening statement: “‘No na ned’ it was murder”. The accused had three knives with him, one of which – with a blade length of 17 centimeters – had been used for the crime according to the DNA comparison. It was clear to the public prosecutor that the 39-year-old was able to “recognize injustice and act accordingly.” Therefore, no application for accommodation was made.
Kastner: “The danger is obvious”
Court psychiatrist Adelheid Kastner attested to the accused’s so-called “simple schizophrenia” which went hand in hand with “complete failure” and the “silting up of personality”. This can be deduced from the biography of the man. Kastner explained to the jury how a person with this disease feels: “Suddenly there is an outside influence that occupies your brain and tells you what to do. Schizophrenia is a force of nature that occupies you and you take control of yourself does not choose,” reported Kastner. In any case, the psychiatric bases for the “incapacity to be blamed” are available. In addition, his “danger is undoubtedly obvious,” Kastner explained the severity of the mental disorder.
Relatives worried
The 63-year-old was found dead in his Innsbruck apartment after relatives became concerned. The officers had entered the apartment in the Innsbruck district of Hötting via the balcony, where the body was finally discovered. According to the autopsy, the man died from inhaling blood, and veins and arteries were severed. The victim also had “classic defensive injuries,” the judge quoted from the report.
Source: Nachrichten
