Twist in the trial about “jealousy drama” among harvest workers

A 31-year-old choked his rival with a belt in October 2023. His girlfriend had worked as a harvest worker and wanted to break up with him because of the victim. The judgment is not final.

A “jealousy drama”

“Clearly, it’s a jealousy drama,” the defense attorney summed it up. According to the prosecutor, the defendant rushed from Romania to Eastern Styria after his partner told him on the phone that she had met another man and wanted to break up with him. The woman had worked as a harvest worker and that is where she met the other man.

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But the accused didn’t want to accept that, so he got into a taxi and drove to Styria – for around 900 euros. According to his own statements, he drank whiskey on the way and also bought a “dagger-like knife” from the taxi driver, according to the prosecutor. With this weapon in his hand, he went to the harvest workers’ quarters and tried to force his way into the house, but was unable to do so. In his anger he hit a car and smashed the windows.

Woman intervened

The rival asked him to throw away the knife and then he would come out of the house. The defendant did so, but then attacked the man. When the woman tried to intervene, she was hit and fell to the ground. Her new boyfriend knelt down next to her, and the 31-year-old took advantage of this opportunity. He took his belt and used it to strangle the victim. Other workers intervened and the man got off lightly. “Don’t be fooled by the fact that we don’t have a body,” the prosecutor warned the jury.

The defendant emphasized that he never wanted to kill his rival. He was just hoping to be able to take the woman back to Romania with him. “I didn’t threaten anyone,” he emphasized. He just wanted to talk to the two of them, he assured. He told the police: “I wanted to take revenge.”

Gaps in memory

When the judge wanted to know why he had a knife with him, the 31-year-old replied: “I thought then maybe she would come home with me sooner.” But he insisted that he had never threatened anyone with it. He couldn’t remember the incident with the belt. “He hit me and then I broke the film,” was all he said.

The victim and several other witnesses did not appear. After deliberating for more than two hours, the jury found that it was not an attempted murder, but an attempted intentional grievous bodily harm. The Romanian was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. The judgment is not final.