Nine Years in Prison for 55-Year-Old After Bloody Crime at Vienna Central Station

The defendant struck the victim eleven times in the face with his fist in a waiting area at the main train station on April 7, 2025, which led to the man's death.

37-Year-Old Could Have Survived the Bloody Incident at Vienna Main Train Station

Several eyewitnesses sitting nearby, who witnessed the incident, did not intervene. The victim could likely have been saved with prompt medical assistance. This was made clear by forensic expert Christoph Reisinger when presenting his report. According to him, if the rescue chain had been initiated immediately, the 37-year-old would have almost certainly survived. He ultimately died after being transferred to a hospital from the effects of a skull-brain trauma and internal bleeding in the skull.

The defendant and the victim had met a few days before the incident during a train journey from Budapest to Vienna. Both were homeless and were staying at the main train station. On April 7, an argument broke out, with both men being heavily intoxicated. Eventually, the older man attacked the one initially sitting next to him with his fists, with the scenes being recorded by a surveillance camera.

Prosecutor Shocked by Video of Bloody Incident at Vienna Main Train Station

Before the footage was played multiple times in the courtroom, prosecutor Kerstin Wagner-Haase warned the jury. She was "shocked by the brutality" when she first saw the video during the investigation: "He pummels the victim's head like a punching bag."

She was equally appalled by the reaction of the people sitting directly next to or opposite the attacked person, the prosecutor revealed. There was none. The man sitting directly next to the 37-year-old, whose head even slammed against his left shoulder after a blow, remained unmoved, eventually standing up and walking away. A woman sitting directly opposite continued to engage with her phone. Others simply looked away. "No one there showed civil courage," commented the prosecutor on the events.

Victim of Bloodshed at Vienna Central Station Went to the Airport and Only Lost Consciousness There

After the eleventh blow, the attacker also left. However, the attacked person did not lose consciousness. Despite his severe injuries - he apparently had two per mille of alcohol in his blood, as the autopsy later revealed - he took a train to the airport, where he was again captured by a surveillance camera. On the morning of April 8, he was found lying motionless on the floor in the arrival hall of Terminal 3. The Hungarian was flown to a Vienna hospital by emergency medical helicopter and underwent emergency surgery after an MRI revealed skull injuries. However, the man's life could not be saved.

The trail to the accused was found thanks to "perfect and highly committed police work," as the prosecutor emphasized. Using a so-called camera backtracking, the investigators reconstructed how the 37-year-old got to the airport. After hours of reviewing footage from surveillance cameras installed in public transport, it was initially discovered that the Hungarian had traveled from the central station towards the airport with a commuter train. Subsequently, the tapes from surveillance cameras at the station premises were examined - they came across the scene with the punches.

The identity of the attacker was unknown, however. A police officer involved in the investigations recognized the 55-year-old from the footage when he happened to be at the central station in civilian clothes on April 10 and encountered the Hungarian, who was there again. The officer immediately informed colleagues, who arrested the 55-year-old as a prime suspect.

"I Did Something Bad, I'm Really Sorry"

"I did something bad, I'm really sorry," the accused said now before a jury court. The 55-year-old did not confess to the incriminated murder. "He wanted to give him a good beating. But he didn't want to kill him," his legal aid stated. The lawyer pointed out that the accused had left the victim on his own and had not hit him "until he no longer moved." One could only prove bodily harm to his client, but not the fatal outcome in this context: "We don't know what happened on the train to the airport or in between. He could have also fallen and further injured himself."

Both the accused and the prosecutor agreed with the verdict. In the sentencing, "the extraordinarily high level of violence" was considered aggravating, so that with a sentencing range of five to 15 years, the imposed sentence was "just still appropriate," said the presiding judge in the reasoning of the verdict. "You beat a person to death," she reminded the 55-year-old.

(APA/Red)

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