On Wednesday morning, a trial took place in the Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Matters that would probably have received very little public attention if the defendant had not made headlines in another matter a few days earlier. A 17-year-old had to answer before a jury for beating his mother three months ago and, according to a sobbing witness, kicking her in the head several times. The prosecution spoke of an “excess of violence”. The slim, tall teenager, who slouched in his chair in court in sweatpants, hoody and flip-flops and yawned loudly several times, said during his first interrogation, according to the prosecutor, that he had been “tyrannized by his mother and was proud of it that way “to have endured for a long time”.
The court announced that it would now first obtain a juvenile psychiatric report and, since the defendant had apparently regularly taken drugs, including ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine, have the question of guilt clarified. Then the young, disinterested-looking man was led back to his cell; It was said that a decision had yet to be made as to whether he would be released or whether his pre-trial detention would be extended.
He told the surprised police officers: He was the homeless murderer
It is not difficult to predict that it will probably come down to the latter. The same man appeared at a police station in Vienna’s Penzing district on Monday and told the surprised officers that he was “the wanted homeless murderer.” In the summer, two murders and an attempted murder of homeless people in Vienna kept the police on tenterhooks. They had slept in public places, in parks and under bushes; two were stabbed, one woman survived with serious injuries. Municipal and charitable institutions then expanded their overnight accommodation options for homeless people in Vienna because the police assumed it was a serial killer.
The 17-year-old, who now turned himself in, gave a comprehensive statement to the State Criminal Police Office on Monday; A search of his father’s apartment in the Weinviertel also revealed the murder weapon, a blood-encrusted knife, well hidden in a sofa. According to the young man, he had planned his actions meticulously: at night, when he was unobserved, he had scouted out suitable crime scenes and tried to find out how he could avoid possible surveillance cameras. He visited the designated crime scenes several times, always disguised with a black cap and a black scarf that he held over his face; his victims had to be unobserved and defenseless. All three attacks therefore occurred while the two homeless men and the surviving woman were sleeping.
Why does someone kill homeless people? Investigators are having a hard time finding a motive
The police are initially having a hard time finding a motive; An explicit hatred of homeless people could not be heard from the confessed perpetrator’s statements. The election defense attorney reported that his client had many problems, including divorced parents, drug use, dropping out of school, and constant arguments with his mother. He was looking for an “vent for his aggression.” But in the fall he started an apprenticeship and found a friend who ultimately convinced him to turn himself in.
According to the investigators, there initially appears to be no evidence of a psychiatric illness; Media reports that the confessed perpetrator heard voices have apparently not been confirmed. What awaits him, what will happen next, and whether he understands the seriousness of the allegations and the consequences is unclear. “Do you know what is going on here?” the presiding judge asked the defendant on Wednesday during the trial for serious bodily harm, because at times he apparently gave the impression that it was none of his business. “I know what’s going on here,” replied the 17-year-old.