A 35-year-old stood before a jury in Vienna on Wednesday because he is said to have stabbed and injured five passers-by in the head and neck on October 26, 2021 in Vienna-Brigittenau. The man suffers from a serious psychiatric illness. He was of unsound mind at the time of the crime, so prosecutors have requested that he be placed in a mental institution for the jury to decide.
According to the prosecutor, the victims experienced scenes “like something out of a horror film”. On the national holiday of the previous year, the man left his apartment in Vienna-Brigittenau armed with a sharp knife. His first route led him to a nearby snack bar, where he took a filet knife from the kitchen. With this, he then completely involuntarily attacked his first victim in front of the bar, stabbing him in the head. As the knife bent, he threw it away and continued his trek of terror with the other weapon.
The 35-year-old attacked a total of five people who, according to the prosecutor, “were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time”, mainly with stabs to the head and neck, where he still kicked a woman in the head with full force when this had already fallen to the ground.
The hearing of the man, who has suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and personality disorder since his youth, proved difficult during the process. The verdict is expected in the late afternoon.
