Four Years in Prison for Vienna Supermarket Robber: "I don't know what came over me"

Masked and armed with a kitchen knife, a 19-year-old entered a supermarket branch in Vienna-Favoriten on April 9, 2025, approached a cashier, and demanded money. As he initially did not receive enough bills from the cash drawer in his view, he pressed the blade into the back of the 33-year-old with the words "More money! Do you want a stab?" and slightly injured the man. The robber was sentenced to four years of unconditional imprisonment at the regional court on Wednesday.

In addition, a suspended sentence from a previous conviction, originally suspended on probation, was revoked. Both the 19-year-old and the prosecutor accepted the court's decisions.

"All good": Vienna cashier demands no compensation for pain and suffering

"There wasn't much in the first cash register because I had just done a cash change," the supermarket employee described the robbery. Subsequently, the accused, masked with a scarf and a balaclava, "constantly threatened to stab" him and forced him to open the adjacent cash drawer by pressing the blade into his body. "I only felt a stab in the back," the witness testified. Not much happened. For the superficial injury, the 33-year-old neither claimed compensation for pain and suffering nor damages. The cashier, who appeared unfazed, denied the presiding judge's question aimed at this: "All good."

The robber stole 1,335 euros from the store. With the sum, he ran out of the branch to his father's apartment around the corner, where he intended to hide the money when special police forces forcibly broke down the door and arrested the 19-year-old. The branch manager had witnessed the robbery, triggered a silent alarm, and followed the perpetrator without him noticing. When the police arrived at the crime scene, the woman informed the officers where the masked man had fled.

Defendant "just snapped" after breakup

"I had a girlfriend. I broke up with her the day before. I then drank a lot and took ten Praxiten (tablets that serve as sedatives and sleeping aids and contain the active ingredient Oxazepam, note). I got drunk," the defendant testified. He then "just snapped" and came up with the idea of committing a robbery to continue financing his cocaine and cannabis needs: "I don't know what got into me."

The 19-year-old was found guilty of aggravated robbery and commercial burglary. In addition to the robbery, he had forcibly broken open a sliding door to the parcel storage in a post office branch and ripped open several packages to appropriate valuables contained within. Twelve such cases were included in the indictment. The 19-year-old also confessed to these facts.

(APA/Red)

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