Double murder in Vienna

Homeless people killed: 17-year-old sane

After one of his crimes, the perpetrator was filmed by a surveillance camera.

(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

A psychiatric report has now been published on the murders in Vienna in the summer of 2023, in which a 16-year-old is said to have brutally stabbed two homeless people to death. According to the report, the now 17-year-old was sane at the time of the crime. The teenager is therefore facing charges of two counts of murder and attempted murder.

This is the conclusion of an expert opinion obtained by the Vienna public prosecutor's office from a child and adolescent psychiatrist. This was announced by Nina Bussek, spokeswoman for the authorities, on Thursday afternoon. The prosecution may also apply for the boy to be placed in a forensic-therapeutic center in accordance with Section 21 (2) of the Criminal Code. According to Bussek, the expert assumes that the 17-year-old was, on the one hand, culpable last summer and, on the other hand, is so dangerous due to his personality traits that, in the event of a conviction, therapeutic measures accompanying imprisonment are necessary because otherwise further crimes with serious consequences would be to be feared after his release from prison.

Further expert opinion requested
However, as the expert is not a specialist in the preparation of so-called dangerousness prognoses, the prosecuting authority has commissioned a designated expert to prepare an expert opinion on dangerousness. "This expert opinion must now be awaited," said Bussek. An indictment can be expected in the near future.

After one of his crimes, the perpetrator was filmed by a surveillance camera.

(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

Teenager handed himself in in December 2023
The 17-year-old went to a police station in mid-December accompanied by his lawyer after mugshots from surveillance cameras were published and 10,000 euros were offered for successful tips to catch the wanted murder suspect. The teenager confessed to the police and explained that "voices" had ordered him to carry out the knife attacks on sleeping and therefore defenceless people.

Two people stabbed to death
On July 12, the young man allegedly stabbed a 56-year-old man with a kitchen knife on a park bench at Handelskai in Vienna-Brigittenau. On July 22, he allegedly used the same weapon to inflict serious stab wounds and cuts on a 51-year-old woman in the Venediger Au in Vienna-Leopoldstadt, which the victim survived. On the night of August 9, the 17-year-old allegedly killed a 55-year-old man with a knife on the Hernalser Gürtel in Vienna-Josefstadt. The 17-year-old has been in custody for around eight months.

Attacked his own mother
Another act of violence attributed to the teenager, which took place after the homicides, is already pending in court. On September 18, the 17-year-old is said to have inflicted several broken ribs, a bruised skull, hematomas and abrasions all over his mother's body by punching her in the face and then kicking the head and body of the woman who had fallen to the ground.

The double murder suspect is now 17 years old.

(Bild: Reinhard Holl)

Trial postponed
A first main hearing for intentional grievous bodily harm has already taken place at the regional court. At the request of the defense lawyer, the panel of lay judges had an expert opinion obtained by order of the court to clarify whether the suspect was mentally incompetent at the time of the attack on the mother. In this expert opinion, it was determined that the 17-year-old was mentally incompetent in mid-September, which is why, in the opinion of this expert, the conditions for placing the young person in a forensic therapeutic center in accordance with Section 21 (1) of the Criminal Code would be met if the court were to come to the conclusion that the 17-year-old had seriously injured his mother.

It remains to be seen when the personal injury trial will continue. This week's second hearing was canceled at short notice due to the absence of the defense attorney of choice.