Verdict After Knife Attack on Employee of Vienna Law Firm

The placement in preventive detention is "inevitable," stated the presiding judge in the trial concerning the brutal knife attack on an employee in a Vienna law firm. The verdict is already legally binding.

Employee of Vienna Law Firm Survived Knife Attack by Luck

The 56-year-old survived 16 stab wounds. "She was just lucky," commented the prosecutor. The man had stabbed her in the lip, ten times in the chest and abdomen, and five more times in the arms and legs. Originally, the man, who had traveled to the crime scene with a total of five knives, even intended to attack two employees of the firm. At the time of the crime, the 54-year-old was deemed legally insane according to a psychiatric report and thus not criminally responsible. According to the expertise, the man, who had been under the financial care of the firm in the form of adult representation since February 2024, acted under the determining influence of pronounced paranoid schizophrenia. The illness had been diagnosed almost 30 years ago. He had not been taking medication against it recently and was not receiving any other treatment.

Due to the established legal insanity, the attacker was not charged with attempted murder. Instead, the prosecution, in accordance with § 21 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, applied for the - indefinite - commitment of the man to a forensic-therapeutic center. "He is highly dangerous. He must be treated behind bars. Ensure that something like this never happens again," the prosecutor appealed to the jurors. Due to the significant severe and persistent mental disorder of the 54-year-old, further criminal acts with serious consequences are to be expected in the foreseeable future unless the man is placed in preventive detention and therapeutically treated, warned the prosecutor.

The law firm employee had paid the 54-year-old money four times up to the day of the crime, with each transaction taking place in the courtyard of the firm. The 54-year-old had never been aggressive, the 56-year-old described in the witness stand. On February 3, it was different when the man appeared at the firm shortly before 12:00 PM and wanted to be paid 200 euros. The 56-year-old sent him away, citing the lunch break, "because I can't pay out anything between 12:00 and 2:00 PM. He said he had been waiting for a quarter of an hour and was, of course, not very pleased," the woman reported. At 3:00 PM, the man appeared again and now demanded 400 euros. When she refused to give him this amount, "he reacted as if it made him very angry," the witness testified, who gave her statement in the absence of the 54-year-old at her request.

After Knife Attack: Employee Dragged Herself into Vienna Law Firm

The man wanted to speak to the lawyer, she explained to him that an appointment was necessary for that. "Then he had a sparkle in his eyes and went on the attack," the woman described the further events, which were partially recorded by a surveillance camera installed in the courtyard. After a punch to her face, the 56-year-old fell backward against a wall, collapsed to the ground, and ended up lying in the stairwell leading to the office located on the upper floor.

"The next thing I saw was that he pulled out the knife. At that moment, I thought, what do I do now. I was relatively calm and tried to dodge the stabs. Then I called for help relatively loudly," the office employee recalled. Exactly 49 seconds passed from the punch to the moment when the attacker let go of her. "He just stopped," reported the 56-year-old. The man said, "That's what you get, you whore," and left.

The critically injured woman managed to drag herself into the office without any external help, where the rescue chain was then set in motion. Thanks to rapid medical assistance, the woman survived and, according to her own statements, is already back at work. "I was on sick leave until March 18," she noted.

Man Had "Prepared Five Knives" Before Knife Attack in Vienna Law Office

The interrogation of the 54-year-old was characterized by his brief and concise answers to the questions directed at him, and due to pronounced mumbling, he was sometimes barely understandable. He was "a bit annoyed" when he was sent home at noon. There had always been "difficulties, you could say" in the office, so he "prepared five knives" at home. Originally, he intended to attack two female employees of the office, he confirmed his statements after his arrest. He put four knives in a bag and another in the breast pocket of his jacket. When he was back at the location on Landstraßer Hauptstraße, "I would have liked to have had more money." In response to the behavior of the 56-year-old, "I started to completely lose it." He "selected" the knife in the breast pocket because it "offered survival chances for the victim," he claimed. "What did you think could happen to her?" the presiding judge wanted to know. "Nothing at all," the man replied, "there were no thoughts. I was in such a rage."

(APA/Red)

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