Styrian man killed wife

“Then grandma stopped screaming…”

The defendant confessed from the outset.

(Bild: Eva Stockner)

At a murder trial in Leoben (Styria) on Monday, the public prosecutor spoke of an "exceptionally brutal femicide". A Styrian man literally executed his wife with 40 stab wounds - mainly to the face and neck. Obsessed by the delusion that she was cheating on him. The couple's grandson had to witness the gruesome act.

The couple from the Mur Valley were married for over 36 years. Friends describe the marriage as harmonious. But a year and a half ago, arguments suddenly began. The 62-year-old accused his wife of having an affair. "I heard their arguments," says the grandson. "Grandma said that she wouldn't put up with it for much longer. And that he should get himself checked out because it can't go on like this."

Suddenly stabbed in the neck without saying a word
Last November, the situation finally escalated. Completely out of the blue, the Styrian took a kitchen knife with a 20-centimetre blade and stabbed his wife, who was reading a newspaper at the table, in the neck. When the bleeding woman fled outside with her teenage grandson ("Help me, grandma kept screaming, but I didn't know what to do," the young Styrian explained), the early retiree ran after her with the knife.

"I caught her again in the courtyard and stabbed her several times," the 62-year-old describes emotionlessly. The grandson had to watch it all. "Grandma was kneeling on the ground and Grandpa kept stabbing her. Then she stopped screaming ..."

I realized that she was cheating on me. With a carer in the old people's home where she worked.

Der Steirer hat sich eine Affäre seiner Frau eingebildet

"She cheated on me"
"Why?" Judge Richard Gollner wants to know from the defendant. "Because I found out that she was cheating on me." With a colleague at the retirement home where the 57-year-old worked. "There's a room there that's always free," the defendant is convinced.

There is no objective evidence of fraud. "Have you ever seen your wife together with the nurse?" asks public prosecutor Anika Maierhofer. "No, never together." - "Do you still believe today that your wife cheated?" the judge wants to know. "Yes," the Styrian is convinced.

"Oesophagus almost completely severed"
Forensic pathologist Isabella Klasinc then paints a shocking picture of the incomprehensible brutality of the crime: "There were 40 stab wounds and cuts - particularly to the face, head and neck. The victim's esophagus was almost completely severed and one of his eyeballs was severely injured."

The expert witness has explained comprehensibly and conclusively that you pose a considerable danger and that you could commit further murders.

Der vorsitzende Richter Richard Gollner in der Urteilsbegründung

Styrian suffers from severe delusional disorder
Expert witness Manfred Walzl then explains to the jury that the Styrian suffers from a delusional disorder that makes him very dangerous. As the delusion was decisive and the man was therefore mentally incompetent, he recommended that he be placed in a forensic therapy center. The jury followed this recommendation unanimously.

"The expert witness has explained comprehensibly and conclusively that you pose a considerable danger and that you could commit further murders," concluded Judge Richard Gollner. The 62-year-old agreed with the decision. However, as the public prosecutor did not make a statement, the verdict is not yet final.