Dead man (42) after a fight: young people convicted in Burgenland

2023-11-09 13:07:00

At the Eisenstadt regional court on Thursday, two young people were sentenced to 15 months in prison, 14 of which were conditional, in the case of a death following a fight in Schattendorf (Mattersburg district). On the night of December 18, 2022, after an argument in front of a disco, they allegedly beat a 42-year-old who later died of a cerebral hemorrhage in the hospital. However, the bleeding could not be attributed with the necessary certainty to the beating.

The 19-year-old Syrian resident of the Neunkirchen district in Lower Austria, who pleaded guilty from the start, and the 17-year-old from Burgenland, who denied being involved in the fight, were found guilty by the jury of attempted grievous bodily harm. But they no longer have to be in custody because, according to the verdict, they only have to serve one month – which they have already done with the interim detention after the incident.

With her verdict, Judge Birgit Falb followed the forensic report, according to which the cerebral hemorrhage could not almost certainly be attributed to the beating, but could also have other causes. “The two defendants are not responsible for the death,” emphasized Falb. Both have to pay 100 euros in compensation to the daughters of the deceased. Probation was ordered. The young men accepted the verdict as did the public prosecutor’s office; the representatives of the private parties made no statement.