Life Sentence for Murder of 91-Year-Old in Vienna

"I understand. I received a life sentence and I want to serve it here (in Austria, ed.)," the man accepted the maximum penalty. Before a jury, he made a comprehensive confession and described in detail how he set fire to the door of the garden house around midnight and broke it open with a pipe wrench: "Then I went in and killed and raped her."

First homicide committed by defendant at age 20

"In view of the horrific acts, it is hard to find words. He cannot explain what came over him that night," remarked his defense attorney Ina-Christin Stiglitz. The psychiatric expert Peter Hofmann described the defendant as "a simply structured person who takes what he needs. If necessary, with violence." The Slovak spent 29 years of his life in prison. At the age of twenty, he had knocked down a young man after a visit to a local bar in his homeland and thrown him into a well. The victim drowned. For this, the perpetrator received a twelve-year prison sentence. After serving this sentence, he came to Austria, where in 2008 he was sentenced by the Vienna Regional Court to 13 years in prison after he had beaten and robbed three women. The oldest victim was 95 years old. He had followed the woman from a supermarket shopping trip to her home and attacked her for 70 euros. As a result of the punches to her face, the victim lost vision in one eye.

For serving his sentence, the man was transferred to Slovakia, where he was released in January 2024 due to another violent crime committed in prison. Four months later, he was back in Vienna. "He spent the nights on the Danube Island and at some point decided he needed to get money," the prosecutor outlined. The Slovak loitered around small garden settlements and looked for potential, always female victims. In the small garden complex where the 91-year-old spent the summer, the 52-year-old went "on patrol" for days, as the prosecutor explained. The defendant had actually targeted the younger neighbor of the later victim, but a man was always present with her, which deterred him from breaking into that house. Instead, he chose the 91-year-old as his victim, the prosecutor reported.

Defendant suffocated 91-year-old in Vienna

"Everything I did was thought through," the defendant admitted. He had seen the 91-year-old standing at the window and waited until the woman had gone to sleep. Through a hole in the garden fence, he entered the garden and subsequently the house by bending away the metal at the door lock with pliers, setting a fire, and breaking open the scorched door. In the bedroom, he attacked the sleeping woman, the defendant described: "She woke up, screamed. I told her 'Don't scream'. She didn't stop screaming." Then he hit her twice with the pliers: "She fought back. Then I took a pillow and pressed it into her face."

According to a forensic medical report, the woman suffocated painfully after further acts of abuse had occurred. The man left the cottage at 5:00 a.m. "After the rape, I fell asleep," the defendant said. He then drove back to Slovakia after taking 150 euros and two rings from the deceased. "Why did you do that?" presiding judge Magdalena Klestil-Krausam wanted to know. "I still don't know," replied the 52-year-old, "I am very sorry that I did it."

The former daughter-in-law of the deceased found the body on the morning of September 4th. After the 91-year-old could not be reached by phone, the relatives became worried. The granddaughter participated in the proceedings as a private party and joined with the symbolic amount of 100 euros, which the defendant acknowledged. "Due to the grief and the damage he caused me and the whole family," the granddaughter explained her actions. She waived the compensation for the funeral costs. Her grandmother was "very spry," they had a close relationship, and talked on the phone daily.

In addition to life imprisonment: Also placement in a forensic-therapeutic center

The investigation of the perpetrator was not difficult, as he had left a soda can with his fingerprints at the crime scene. In addition, foreign DNA traces were secured in the intimate area of the deceased, which could be attributed to the 52-year-old. Due to his serious criminal record, his data was stored in the DNA database. The man was put on a wanted list with a European arrest warrant and was arrested in his home country on September 21st. In October, he was extradited to Austria.

The Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office applied for the defendant's placement in a forensic-therapeutic center in addition to his conviction according to § 21 paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code. Although he was deemed accountable at the time of the crime according to the psychiatric report obtained during the investigation, the 52-year-old exhibits such a persistent and severe mental disorder - namely a dissocial personality disorder - "that anything up to homicidal offenses can be expected," as the psychiatric expert explained to the jury. The man is "very, very dangerous," emphasized Hofmann, which is why he recommended placement in preventive detention in the event of a conviction, where therapeutic treatment accompanying detention is ensured. "Just locking them up makes no sense. If they come out with the same structure in 20 years, everything starts all over again," remarked Hofmann.

(APA/Red)

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