Double murder in Vienna: Life imprisonment and incarceration

The defendant is said to have brutally killed a pharmacist and a young mother at the beginning of the year. According to a psychiatric report, the homeless Pole was considered sane, but is highly dangerous due to a severe personality disorder.

The judgment is not final. The 51-year-old filed a nullity complaint and a criminal appeal. His severe personality disorder was considered a mitigating factor, but the two brutal crimes, his treacherous actions that were torturous for the victims, his use of weapons and his previous convictions were aggravating.

The 51-year-old is accused of killing the 74-year-old pharmacist in Donaustadt on the night of January 1st, 2023 and of killing and stabbing the 31-year-old mother of two in Floridsdorf on the night of January 8th. Like the pharmacist, the woman died of multiple injuries.

“I do not know anything”

The defendant – himself a father of two – initially claimed that he had nothing to do with the two cases. He is not the man the public prosecutor has accused, but has a completely different name. When the presiding judge of the jury court, Wolfgang Etl, asked whether he would plead guilty or not guilty, the man said in a quiet voice: “I don’t know anything.” The 51-year-old then gave this answer again and again to the court’s questions. He couldn’t remember the bloody acts.

According to his lawyer Astrid Wagner, her client could not even imagine that he had committed the brutal killings. He was “a peace-loving person,” the defense attorney told journalists before the trial began. The man, who has already appeared in court several times in Germany and is said to have previously beaten his partner, was also heavily incriminated by DNA traces found at the crime scenes as well as the victims’ blood on his clothing and also by images from the surveillance cameras. The two people killed may have become victims of the suspected violent criminal purely by chance.

Based on the findings of the psychiatric expert, the prosecution has therefore applied for the 51-year-old to be placed in a forensic therapeutic center in accordance with Section 21 Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code (StGB) in addition to a prison sentence. Forensic psychiatrist Peter Hofmann certified that the man had a severe personality disorder and severe alcoholism. The 51-year-old has been drinking since he was 13 and every day since he was 16. Therefore, he would have already suffered lasting damage. Even though he exhibited “bizarre behavior” at crime scenes, his procedures were “orderly, logical and targeted.” The expert came to the conclusion that the defendant was sane at the time of the crime. However, the man is so dangerous that such violent acts could occur again in the future.

According to his defense attorney, the man is currently being treated with medication in prison for his illness. For lawyer Wagner, placement would also have been considered due to his insanity in accordance with Section 21/1 of the Criminal Code. The man told his lawyer “about black figures” who were persecuting him. He would have displayed “completely irrational behavior”. “There definitely remain doubts,” said Wagner during the closing argument.

“Can’t be put into words”

The accused, who had recently lived with his girlfriend in a demolished house or in a tent on the Danube Island during the warm months, is likely to have regularly tried to get into unlocked houses in Vienna after separating from his partner shortly before the end of the year to invade districts above the Danube in order to get food and a place to sleep. To do this, he leaned firmly against the doors. When they opened, the man entered. In both cases, the not very tall but stocky man probably surprised the physically inferior victims and immediately attacked them.

The prosecutor also said in her closing statement that what happened on those evenings “cannot be put into words.” “Because there are no words for this brutality.” Those killed were accidental victims. “You were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” The accused acted out of a “sadistic, empathic and cold-blooded desire to kill,” said the prosecutor. Even experienced investigators were shocked by the brutal acts. The judge also spoke of an “unbelievable level of brutality” when he showed the crime scene photos to the jury.

The defendant broke into the pharmacist’s house on New Year’s Eve after he returned home from a party at a friend’s house shortly after midnight. The 51-year-old first looked for alcohol on the ground floor, which he collected in a carrier bag before going to the apartment on the first floor. There he immediately attacked the pharmacist brutally. The man’s body showed massive head injuries and signs of abuse all over his body. The 74-year-old had his legs tied. The defendant stayed in the pharmacist’s house for three hours after the crime and ate something. He even showered there and changed his clothes. When he left, he took the victim’s wallet and shoes with him.

The dead man was finally found by a couple who were friends and had already celebrated New Year’s Eve with the pharmacist. They were worried because the 74-year-old could not be reached on January 1st. Traditionally, the three of them wanted to watch the New Year’s concert together on television.

Arrested on January 8th

After the crime, the Pole drove to Graz, where the man tried to withdraw money using the victim’s ATM card. According to the court, it was no longer possible to determine when the 51-year-old traveled to Vienna again. On the evening of January 7th, he finally broke into the 31-year-old’s house in Floridsdorf and attacked the woman with massive blunt blows to the head and several knife stabs while her children were on the first floor. The young mother died on the night of January 8th. In this case too, the defendant is said to have stayed in the house for at least a while and consumed copious amounts of alcohol. He changed his shoes again and took the victim’s husband’s slippers with him. He discovered his dead wife when he returned from a skiing vacation in the afternoon after the crime. He was still surprised that no one greeted him and the door was open. The children were still in the house.

The suspect was arrested on the evening of January 8th. Although the police were at the young family’s house after the second homicide, the 51-year-old returned to the crime scene in the evening after the forensics were completed. At 9:45 p.m. he even knocked on the door of the house, being noticed by journalists covering the case. The reporters found this strange, so they drove to the nearest police station and reported what had happened. An hour later, the 51-year-old even broke into the house through a basement window, where he was caught and arrested by the alerted officers. When he was examined in custody, his blood alcohol level was 2.9 per mille.

The hearing was originally scheduled for two days. However, the witness statement from the pharmacist’s friends and the 31-year-old’s husband was mutually agreed to be omitted. The court wanted to spare them from appearing in court due to the psychological stress. Their interviews were read out in writing, which meant the trial program could be completed more quickly. The members of both families were awarded more than 200,000 euros in compensation. It was questionable whether the 51-year-old would ever be able to pay that.

info By clicking on the icon you can add the keyword to your topics.

info
By clicking on the icon you open your “my topics” page. They have of 15 keywords saved and would have to remove keywords.

info By clicking on the icon you can remove the keyword from your topics.

Add the topic to your topics.