Trial in Feldkirch

A tattoo on his face instead of high cheekbones

The description of the perpetrator did not match the accused.

(Bild: Chantal Dorn, Krone KREATIV)

A suspected handbag thief was acquitted at Feldkirch Regional Court on Friday. The victim's description of the perpetrator did not match the man sitting in the dock at all.

"I'm really very sorry about what happened to the two ladies. But I had nothing to do with it," the blameless defendant asserted in the jury trial at Feldkirch Regional Court.

The facts of the case: On the evening of March 18, 2023, the man from Oberland allegedly assaulted two young women on a park bench in the lakeside facilities in Bregenz. With a hammer in his hand and the words "So, now you two have been caught - give me your money!", he is said to have threatened the victims - but without success, the two 22-year-olds beat the robber off.

The fact that the senate believed the 33-year-old at the end of the trial and the presiding judge acquitted him of the charge of attempted aggravated robbery is due to the rather contradictory description of the perpetrator by the two victims. During the trial, the two women who were attacked could not remember any tattoos on their faces or on the arms and hands of the accused.

My client is smaller, more trained and stockier than described by the two victims. He also has a conspicuous tattoo on his face. The fact that they remember high cheekbones but not a tattoo on his face is quite implausible.

Verteidiger Franz Josef Giesinger

In addition, shortly after the robbery in March last year, they described the robber as a very thin and tall man with prominent cheekbones. In other words, quite the opposite of the person in the dock: "My client is smaller, more trained and stockier than described by the two victims. He also has a striking tattoo on his face. The fact that people remember high cheekbones but not a tattoo on his face is quite implausible," emphasized defence lawyer Franz Josef Giesinger.

Furthermore, the accused had demonstrably had contact with a Viennese woman on Tinder seven minutes after the crime. "A perpetrator on the run would never have done that," says Giesinger.