Trial in Innsbruck

Truck driver massacred colleague in parking lot

The accused Pole at the trial in the Innsbruck jury courtroom

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer, Krone KREATIV)

After a terrible bloodbath in the A12 parking lot near Inzing (Tyrol), a Polish man (37) confessed to the fatal stabbing after an argument. Now it came to the murder trial and instead of confessing, the accused brought a mysterious "third man" into play. However, these descriptions did not go down well with the jury.

They were work colleagues and arranged to spend the weekend at the A12 parking lot near Inzing in Tyrol on the fateful Saturday in May of the previous year. It ended in a bloodbath.

"The mood changed"
"At some point, the mood changed," said the prosecutor, referring to the liter of vodka they drank together. It then came to a "test of strength", followed by a heated argument. The accused finally grabbed his folding knife in the vehicle and "stabbed" his colleague. When he fled, there were a further eleven stabs outside between two vehicles. "He at least accepted that his colleague would die in the process," the public prosecutor pleaded murder by the man with eight previous convictions.

The fact that you only wanted to injure your colleague contradicts the ferocity of the stabbing.

Staatsanwältin Andrea Walder

"Not murder, but manslaughter"
In his plea, the defense lawyer emphasized that there had never been any intent to murder and that manslaughter had to be assumed - also due to the massive consumption of alcohol. In addition, the accused had been in a "violent emotional state".

Heart hit, rib punctured
A stab wound to the ventricle and a punctured rib were among the findings of the forensic medicine. The victim dragged himself back to his cabin and died. The accused washed himself in the nearby toilet, put on clean clothes and went to sleep - until the police knocked on the door of his cab.

The murder took place in this parking lot on the A12 last May.

(Bild: ZEITUNGSFOTO.AT / APA / picturedesk.com)

Sudden "film tear" instead of confession at the trial
Even in view of the evidence - investigators found his buried bloody knife - the Pole confessed two days after the crime. At the trial, however, he suddenly spoke of a "film tear", saying that when he woke up he had seen an unknown third party (as a possible attacker) and the injured colleague. "Why did you then talk to the police about a scuffle and admit to stabbing someone?" the presiding judge wanted to know. He had hoped for a lighter sentence by confessing and that he could continue to see his children (aged eight and twelve) grow up, was the answer. The presiding judge's question as to why he had buried the knife remained unanswered.

In the case of alcohol intoxication, purposeful actions are still possible with an intoxication of around two per mille, but there was no complete intoxication.

Gerichtsmediziner Walter Rabl

How severely impaired by alcohol?
The alleged massive memory lapses and the defendant's "film tear" could not be explained by the forensic pathologist. "He was similarly intoxicated as the victim, who had around two per mille of alcohol in his blood." In the case of "alcohol intoxication", "purposeful actions" were still possible, "complete intoxication" was not present.

For the jury, the alleged third man was a "fairy tale". The verdict was therefore unanimously for life imprisonment, but it is not final. The defense lawyer filed an appeal for annulment.