Man Knocked Over and Injured: Prison for 22-Year-Old
The man was accused of having pushed an opponent so violently backwards in a bar in the Wolfsberg district in the spring that he fell, hit the back of his head on the ground, and suffered a skull base fracture. The verdict is already legally binding.
In addition to the current prison sentence of 26 months, the conditional suspension of four prison sentences for bodily harm - a total of 17 months and three weeks - was revoked. This means that the man has to go to prison for more than three and a half years.
Man in Intensive Care
The incident occurred around 5.30 am in an early morning bar. As the police officers called to the scene had noted at the time, the interrogations were difficult because "not a single reasonably sober person was present". It was only certain that a man with severe injuries was lying in the bar. Initially, a fall was assumed - as there were no witness statements pointing to an attack - but later video recordings revealed the course of events. The accused can be seen pushing his victim away.
The injuries were "no wonder - because the victim hit the tiled floor with the back of his head without braking", explained prosecutor Christian Pirker in his plea. The head even hit the ground before the legs. If Austria did not have such an excellent health system, the man would probably not have survived these injuries, according to Pirker. He had fought for his life in intensive care for several days.
As the prosecutor pointed out, the 22-year-old had clearly acted with the intention of seriously injuring his victim. This is also indicated by another video recording that was made immediately after the attack: The right hand, with which he had carried out the attack, the accused had raised "in a victory pose".
Defender: "Not with Raw, Excessive Force"
However, the 22-year-old's defender questioned this very intention. Rather, a chain of unfortunate circumstances had led to this serious injury. The victim, heavily intoxicated with 2.8 per mille, had stumbled over a threshold and landed unhappily on the ground. His client had indeed given a strong push - but "not with raw, excessive force".
The jury followed this argument under the chairmanship of Judge Oliver Kriz. An intention to cause such a serious injury could not be proven beyond doubt: "Whether the accused had considered this, we could not determine." However, the "extremely rapid relapse" during several open probation periods was aggravating. This was also made clear by the revocation of the conditionally pronounced prison sentences: "We are no longer in juvenile criminal law. One has to get used to such a reaction from the state," Kriz explained.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.