Lighter on strike

Viennese (49) wanted to set fire to his neighbor

The 49-year-old Viennese has to take his seat in the large jury courtroom.

(Bild: Zwefo/Zwefo, Krone KREATIV)

Because she had reported him for noise nuisance, her neighbor beat her with a branch, doused the 50-year-old woman with accelerant and tried to set her on fire. She only survived because the lighter went on strike. The jury in Vienna's Landl decides quickly.

A 50-year-old woman was so annoyed by her neighbor's noise that she reported him to the police. The man's reaction was violent: the 49-year-old intercepted the neighbor in front of her apartment building in Vienna-Hietzing and beat her head with a broken branch.

Defective lighter saved the woman's life
He then poured an accelerant over the victim and tried to set the woman on fire. "It was only because the lighter didn't work straight away that the neighbor was just able to knock it out of his hand," explained the public prosecutor at the trial in Vienna Landl.

I will probably stay in detention for the rest of my life.

Betroffener im Wiener Landesgericht

According to the expert, a "rage psychosis" was the trigger for the crime. The victim suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and was mentally incompetent at the time of the crime. After the attack on the woman, he barricaded himself in his apartment, rammed a knife into his neck and set his legs on fire. When the neighbor sent the police to him, she "stung a beehive", according to the victim.

The decision in the grand jury courtroom is made quickly: the 49-year-old is placed in a forensic therapy center - from which he has already been released once. "I'll probably stay in the detention center for the rest of my life," he says.