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The DNA traces helped the police solve a crime.
Eight years after an attack on a jeweler in Vienna, DNA traces led to the perpetrators. A 30-year-old Romanian was arrested in Germany and extradited to Austria. He betrayed his accomplice. He was sentenced six years ago for another robbery attempt and is currently serving his prison term in Romania, police reported Sunday.
On December 30, 2011, the duo brutally assaulted a jeweler disguised as a woman in Vienna-Brigittenau. They wore wigs and women’s clothing. Immediately after entering the jewelry store on Wallensteinplatz, they sprayed the 24-year-old employee in the face and beat him with a mason’s hammer. The victim resisted and was able to snatch the wig and clothing from one of the perpetrators. The duo grabbed rings, necklaces and bracelets from the display cases and fled, the employee was injured.
Investigators found traces of DNA in the costume left behind. However, a comparison in the database did not return any results at the moment. Then the case was put on hold.
Exactly eight years and 35 days after the attack, an impact report finally arrived from Britain. A British police authority was able to assign the DNA profile secured at the time to a 30-year-old man. The Vienna State Criminal Police Office resumed the investigation together with the Federal Criminal Police Office.
Several photos of the 30-year-old suspect were seized. These were fed into the Home Office’s controversial digital facial recognition software. The Federal Criminal Police Office compares the images with a database of photographs from the Ministry of the Interior, which contains suspects. Following the successful comparison, the investigators obtained a European arrest warrant for the man.
This took place in Germany at the end of June. The Romanian was extradited to Austria. When questioned, he confessed and also named the identity of his 31-year-old accomplice, police spokesman Paul Eidenberger reported. It turned out that the 31-year-old was arrested in 2014 for an attempted jewelery theft in Vienna and subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison. The man was transferred to his country of origin, where he will serve the rest of the prison sentence.
(THAN)
