Wife Killed with Over 30 Stab Wounds: Life Sentence for 36-Year-Old

He is said to have killed the 44-year-old with a knife out of jealousy at the end of March in their shared house in the Braunau district. The psychiatric expert described the act, which was recorded by a surveillance camera, as a "classic overkill crime." The verdict is not legally binding.

Victim Suffered Over 30 Stab and Cut Wounds

One and a half years before the crime, there had already been problems in the couple's relationship "due to the defendant's quick temper," the prosecutor described. The woman had therefore considered divorce. On the night of the crime, when the couple returned home from a party, there was once again an argument about the impending separation. The defendant inflicted more than 30 stab and cut wounds on the woman with a knife with a blade length of 19 centimeters. The cause of death was internal and external bleeding.

Defendant Admitted Guilt

The defendant pleaded guilty. He admitted there had been disputes in the relationship, but he had tried to work on his "perfectionism, my quick temper." However, he insisted he had never been physically violent before. On the night of the crime, there was another argument, among other things, the woman "slapped him," grinned at him, and provoked him. "Then I had the knife in my hand," he said. He was somewhat evasive about the details, saying he couldn't remember everything. "I think I just wanted to scare her," he said, "I probably saw red, I don't know what drove me to it." After the crime, he tried to take his own life and injured himself with the knife. Then he "collapsed" and was woken up in the morning by his stepdaughter, who had slept out of the house.

The victim was "brutally torn from life for trivial reasons," said the prosecutor. Part of the crime and the time afterward was captured by a camera hidden in the living room and equipped with a motion detector. The recordings were played in the packed courtroom. The short sequences show how the defendant wields the knife, but also how he repeatedly gets up, staggers, and falls again hours later. The psychiatric expert Gabriele Wörgötter explained this as a "state of physical and emotional exhaustion" that often occurs after such acts. In her report, she certified the defendant's sanity.

"You Don't Even Know What a Psycho He Is"

A witness who had driven home with the couple from a party on the night of the crime described that the couple had argued in the car, and the word "divorce" was mentioned. When she asked them to stop, the later victim said, "You don't even know what a psycho he is. He already wanted to kill me once." The daughter of the deceased reported that her stepfather "often freaked out," insulted her mother, and "mentally broke her down," but she knew nothing of physical violence, the young woman said.

In his closing argument, the prosecutor demanded that the sentence "should be in the range of the maximum penalty," even though the defendant was confessing and had no prior convictions. The defense attorney requested a "sentence appropriate to the act and guilt." The jury unanimously found the man guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Mitigating factors were the confession and the orderly lifestyle, while the severity of the act and the attack on a close relative were aggravating factors. Additionally, the defendant acted deliberately. The verdict is not legally binding. The defense announced an appeal against the sentence and part of the private claims.

(APA/Red)

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