Deadly Punch at Vienna Westbahnhof: Acquittal
The defendant, originally from Somalia and with eleven previous convictions, had denied the act. A key witness for the prosecution was deemed to have left a "rather unreliable and not very credible impression," according to the court.
The defendant was therefore acquitted of the central charge due to doubt. However, he was found guilty on all other charges - three attempted serious bodily injuries and thefts of perfumes and shoes. Due to his tarnished past, he was sentenced to three years of unconditional imprisonment. After consulting with his defense attorneys Andreas Schweitzer and Sebastian Lesigang, the Somali agreed to the sentence imposed on him. The prosecutor initially made no statement. Therefore, the verdict is not legally binding.
Victim in Vienna died from oxygen deprivation to the brain
Regarding the incident at the Westbahnhof, the prosecution accused the 40-year-old of first hitting a 29-year-old compatriot on the head with a beer can during an argument and then delivering a heavy blow to the face. The 29-year-old fell backward to the ground and hit his head on the asphalt, leading to a hemorrhage in the brain's arachnoid space. The quickly alerted rescue services treated the unconscious man. On August 22, he died in a hospital due to oxygen deprivation to the brain.
The incriminated version of the events did not hold up in court with the certainty required for a criminal trial. The defendant and another witness claimed that two Arabs had an argument with the 29-year-old, during which he fell. The prosecution's key witness turned out to be a suspected Islamist who had made various statements about the events at the Westbahnhof, as reported in a written report submitted to the judiciary by the Vienna State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (LSE).
It was proven, however, that the defendant had attacked three men between June 21 and August 11. He hit two of them on the head with a glass bottle, and in the third case, he punched the victim in the face and then brought him to the ground with a hip throw.
(APA/Red)
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