Annoyed Linzer

Knife against e-scooter: “For me it was self-defense”

The defendant (65) came to the judge's table in Linz with the rollator

(Bild: Einöder Horst/Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

A 65-year-old walker driver in Linz attacked two illegal e-scooters on the sidewalk out of frustration. At the trial, he complained about the inaction of the police and city administration against the sidewalk hooligans and said that he had acted in self-defense. He has been in custody for this since June 28.

"For me it was self-defense, I don't feel guilty" - the 65-year-old defendant at the Linz provincial court was shaking badly after he left his cell on his walker. It was a mixture of fear, anger and physical infirmity after a fall nine years ago.

"I called the city of Linz and the police umpteen times because cyclists and e-scooter riders were using the sidewalk in front of the building. But nobody did anything. So I did something myself," says the pensioner, describing how he used a knife - "I took it with me" - on his rollator on the sidewalk on June 28th to pick off the "enemies". This was because he had not encountered any of his hated contemporaries on two wheels during his daily walk.

Two scooter riders swerved out of the way, and a witness saw the second one "waving his knife" and "stabbing". "I wanted to scratch them, not kill them," said the pensioner - and because he said he would do it again, he was taken into custody.

"I didn't flinch"
He nodded vigorously at the trial when it came to the crime, only shaking his head vigorously when it came to "fidgeting" with the knife - which he had made himself during his time at the Linz shipyard: "I was sitting on the rollator, just holding the knife up. If I had been waving it around, I could have fallen over and been in great danger myself."

He candidly told the judge that he still had a knife lying by the bathroom window and had threatened several times when "they turned the sidewalk into a cycle path again".

"A nice old gentleman"
The defense lawyer called him a "nice old gentleman", but one who "has health and mental problems", plus some dementia. "He needs help, not punishment," said the lawyer. Because his client used a knife in the crime - attempted grievous bodily harm - he faces two to ten years in prison. In order to hear the witness who saw the "flailing", the court was adjourned and the senior citizen returned to his cell on a rollator.