Man hit three times with an SUV in Schwertberg: 12.5 years in prison for attempted murder

2023-11-15 17:03:00

The car was also confiscated, a spokesman for the regional court said. The defendant had only pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm. The judgment is not final. The defense and prosecution took time to think about it.

The trial against the man continued on Wednesday after the defense attorney requested a psychiatric report on the defendant’s sanity on the first day of the trial. The lawyer explained the lack of memory of the incident on February 9th, which the defendant had mentioned several times in court, by saying that there was possibly a combination of a lot of alcohol and several sedative tablets that his client had swallowed that day. At the time of the crime, the suspect, who according to the judge had already been convicted nine times of bodily harm (while intoxicated), had a blood alcohol level of 1.6. The defense wanted to have the interaction with the medication taken clarified by an expert.

The expert Adelheid Kastner came to the conclusion that the defendant had “no profound disorder of consciousness” at the time of the crime, therefore he was guilty. This enabled him to understand the situation and take targeted action. “Whatever he wanted to do, he did,” she summed it up. Gaps in memory after the fact occur again and again as an “internal protective mechanism” of the brain.

Thrown through the air like a doll

After ten injections and four or five shots of schnapps, the defendant drove to a bar to play cards at around 6 p.m. on February 9th. A friend intervened and the two drunken men clashed, whereupon the innkeeper kicked them out one after the other.

The suspected perpetrator then got into his two-ton car and probably waited until the 50-year-old entered the street. The driver is then said to have stepped on the gas and hit the pedestrian. He then reversed the car and made a second attempt. This time he is said to have hit the man at a speed of at least 35 km/h, who was thrown onto the ground. The victim then tried to get to safety behind garbage cans.

But the 36-year-old didn’t give up and drove towards the barrels at speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour. An eyewitness said that the impact caused the 50-year-old to be thrown at least ten meters through the air “like a doll” onto a garage door. It was only “thanks to chance that it remained an attempted murder,” argued the public prosecutor.

In a wheelchair with his legs in plaster

“It must have been something, but I don’t know what,” said the accused in front of the jury. He could only “remember pictures,” one with a garbage can. He said nothing about the fact that he attacked the 50-year-old and shouted “I’ll kill you.” “He’s my friend, we’ve never argued before, I’ve known him for so long,” he said through tears at the start of the trial. He’s sorry for everything. He only pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

This friend was taken to the hospital with multiple broken legs and bruises and had to undergo surgery. He spent several weeks in a wheelchair with two legs in plaster. It was still unclear whether the self-employed painter would be able to continue his business together with his son.