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The 54-year-old suspect is said to have stabbed him six times with a kitchen knife last December. His 48-year-old partner, “the woman of my life”, as the defendant described her, did not survive and succumbed to his blood injuries in the kitchen of the shared apartment in Neudorf, near Staatz (Mistelbach district). When the police arrived, they found the man lying next to her on the ground.
The victim had been separated from him a week before the event and the man’s move from the common apartment was a problem at the time. However, the suspect in Thursday’s trial at the Korneuburg regional court hardly wants to remember anything. “He provoked me, insulted me and said that his new boyfriend would come and kick me out of the apartment,” explains the 54-year-old. Due to a “strong sip” from the vodka bottle, memory was lost from that point on, she said in court.
At the beginning of the trial, the defendant pleaded guilty to the homicide “while in a state of total drunkenness.” His use of alcohol and cannabis was essential for the negotiation.
The prosecutor reported that indifference was one of the reasons for separating the victim. “You seem relatively unconscious today,” the judge told the defendant. “I’m nervous,” he justifies himself.
A “movie tear” was not credible to everyone present. The prosecutor highlighted some inconsistencies between the defendant’s statements in the police report and his statements in court. In the minutes of that time, he still remembered details that he said were not available on the day of the trial. The defense pointed out several times during the trial that the 54-year-old was “difficult to follow.” Abuse and violence were on the agenda in his youth, both within the family and in the children’s homes.
Numerous criminal records
The judge listed 23 relevant prior convictions of the defendant. In recent years, however, calm has returned. According to the forensic psychiatrist, he and his partner led an isolated “retirement life.” When they separated, he had no social perspective. The defendant was “certainly drunk and in a very special emotional situation.” However, the 54-year-old found himself in a position where he knew “you can’t stab another six times with a kitchen knife.”
The prosecutor had demanded a murder conviction, defense lawyer Manfred Arbacher-Stöger had asked for a crime to be committed while intoxicated. “I can only say I’m sorry, I can’t understand it myself,” said the defendant. All eight jurors unanimously affirmed the main issue about the murder. Regarding the assessment of the sentence, the judge classified the previous convictions of the accused as aggravating. Furthermore, the attack was carried out with “such brutality”.
The jury found the 54-year-old defendant’s reduced criminal liability mitigating. The defense filed a motion for annulment and an appeal.
