Double attempted murder

Prosecution ready: poisoner faces life in prison

Bernadette H. (32) is said to have given her then boyfriend Andreas F. a special drink containing methanol (bottles with the red arrow).

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Screenshot MeinBezirk.at)

She tried to kill her boyfriend Andreas F. twice. The public prosecutor's office has now brought the explosive charges against Bernadette H. (32) - she faces life imprisonment.

The police investigated at full speed for two years - so that the Korneuburg public prosecutor's office (Lower Austria) can now indict the results on 38 pages. And they are remarkable in the most negative sense: Bernadette H. is accused of two counts of attempted murder, giving false evidence in several cases and various acts of defamation.

Bernadette H. (32) is alleged to have given her then boyfriend Andreas F. a special drink containing methanol (bottles with the red arrow).

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Screenshot MeinBezirk.at)

Magic mushrooms and methanol in the special drink
What happened? On July 8, the now 32-year-old is said to have poisoned her partner Andreas F. - "by mixing methanol and psilocin-containing mushrooms into his drink and giving it to him to drink", according to the prosecution. "Only through the rapid initiation of specific treatment and blood washing was it possible to prevent the highly probable imminent death." However, the 42-year-old, represented by lawyer Arthur Machac, became almost completely blind as a result ...

The 32-year-old Lower Austrian woman is said to have stored the almost fatal mixture in these bottles (marked with a red arrow).

(Bild: zVg)

Just four months later, the next accused attempted murder: "Bernadette H. encouraged him to eat muffins she had baked." The trained pastry chef used sleeping pills in the dessert and cut his wrist after he fell unconscious. And this time, too, he was saved by rapid medical care and the fact that the Lower Austrian woman had narrowly missed the forearm artery.

The accused had allowed herself to be stabbed
The burden of proof against the 32-year-old became more and more overwhelming, acquaintances and relatives of Andreas F. slowly found out about her - and the police were already investigating. "In these proceedings, several orders were issued and several experts were appointed, the investigations dragged on until spring 2023, so that Bernadette H. was already getting nervous and finally decided to divert suspicion from herself," said the public prosecutor's office.

The "Krone" spoke to the victim Andreas F. and his lawyer Arthur Machac - the 42-year-old has been almost completely blind since the poison attack.

(Bild: Klemens)

What finally follows on the night of May 16-17, 2023 could be read in a crime novel instead of an indictment: With a separately pursued accomplice, defended by lawyer Mirsad Musliu, she had faked a knife attack on herself - and then blamed it on her now ex-boyfriend. The 32-year-old drew blood, placed it in front of and in the house of Andreas F. She even stole his cell phone while he was sleeping, made fake calls and wrote messages. 

She then allowed herself to be injured by the accomplice. For the police, however, everything pointed to the 42-year-old blind ex. He was even taken into custody, where he was held for almost two months. The voice assistant "Alexa" finally exonerated him and unmasked Bernadette H. In the subsequent investigation, she lied through her teeth.

We commissioned a private expert opinion to refute the expert opinion of the public prosecutor's office.

Anwalt Sascha Flatz verteidigt Bernadette H.

Bild: zVg

Court psychiatrist Peter Hofmann explains the woman's behavior according to the prosecution: "It can be assumed that the accused has no social inhibitions to assert her wishes and needs." This and her diagnosed personality disorder would make her dangerous, a case for a forensic-therapeutic center.

She dismisses this finding as "nonsense". Her defense lawyer Sascha Flatz: "My client firmly denies the allegations made by the public prosecutor." And that will probably also be the case at the trial in Korneuburg Regional Court. However, no date has been set.