Victim simply dumped

53-year-old beaten almost to death during carjacking in Vienna

The 35-year-old went into hiding in Serbia, but must now sit before the jury in Vienna.

(Bild: Pratschner Sophie, Krone KREATIV)

One brutality trumps the other as the public prosecutor in Vienna's regional court begins to present accusation after accusation against the accused 35-year-old. Two men and accomplices allegedly robbed his car and then beat them up. An incident with his ex-girlfriend and her husband also horrified ...

"I'm going to tell you a thriller in the next few minutes - but unfortunately it's not a movie," begins the public prosecutor in Vienna: "I've never read anything like this before." And she is not exaggerating: a 35-year-old is alleged to have committed three unbelievable acts of violence.

"Simply dumped on a dirt track"
In October 2016, the accused is said to have beaten up a 19-year-old in his own car with friends. They simply got into the Mercedes and attacked the young man. "Then they kicked him in the trunk and simply dumped him on a dirt track," said the prosecutor. The victim escaped seriously injured. The gang took the vehicle and valuables.

Next victim left lying in front of warehouse
The next, very similar incident took place just four days later. The men stopped a 53-year-old man on his way to work in the morning and also knocked him unconscious in his Opel. "He was already lying on the ground and didn't move," says the public prosecutor, emphasizing the brutality. In this state, they put him down in front of a warehouse - the injuries were life-threatening. "I assumed he was dead," admitted an accomplice in his trial.

Ex kidnapped and raped
The final brutal act of violence: together with accomplices, the Serb is said to have abducted his ex-girlfriend and her husband into a warehouse. "An ordeal lasting several hours began," said the prosecutor. While he was beaten and tied up there, the 35-year-old is said to have raped the woman several times.

His accomplices have long since been sentenced to long prison terms. However, the accused fled to Serbia until last April and was then arrested in Romania. He is now on trial for attempted murder, among other things. After all, the various fractures suffered by the 53-year-old victim are said to have been life-threatening.

Lawyer Michael Dohr represents the accused gang leader.

(Bild: Klemens Groh)

Years after the brutalities, lawyer Michael Dohr announces a partial confession by his client at the trial: "Certain things were of course terrible." The Serbian had committed the assaults and the carjacking "in a severe phase of aggression" - but not the attempted murder and the violent abuse of his ex-girlfriend. "The way the prosecutor has described it, it's just a bad crime story," Dohr counters the prosecutor.

No admission of guilt in the end
There is not much left of the announced partial confession in the 35-year-old's interrogation. "Everyone has their own view of things, of course," he replies, confronted with the incriminating statements of his accomplices. "You plead guilty at the beginning and now tell us at length that you didn't actually do anything? That's like me saying that the sun is shining outside, but it's actually raining," summarizes the presiding judge, slightly exasperated. 

There is another trial date for witnesses and experts on October 5. The former accomplices are also to be questioned.