Brutal home invasion

77-year-old victim: “I thought I was dying”

The two accused Bulgarians are brought before the court under the highest security precautions.

(Bild: Sophie Pratschner, Krone KREATIV)

It is her 77th birthday when a Lower Austrian woman has to testify in St. Pölten Provincial Court - as a victim. She was brutally attacked in her home in Untertullnerbach at the end of February. She was tied up and her entire head was bandaged. "She kept saying she couldn't breathe," said the prosecutor. The charge is now attempted murder.

"When were you born?" was the presiding judge's standard question to the petite pensioner - "1947. October 7th." On her birthday, the Lower Austrian woman has to take her place in the witness box at the St. Pölten Regional Court. The brave 77-year-old woman doesn't let on about the cruel night she experienced on February 23.

Elderly woman beaten down immediately
"At a quarter to nine, I heard noises coming from the upper floor," she recalls. "I went to have a look. They were standing behind a door and immediately threw me to the floor. Then they beat me and tied me up." - And blindfolded. According to the indictment, we are talking about the two Bulgarians who are now sitting in front of the jury. 

The perpetrators then left the woman to die, so to speak.

Staatsanwalt im Landesgericht St. Pölten

They are said to have brutally attacked the 77-year-old woman at the end of February. "They also tore down curtains and wrapped them around her head. She kept saying she couldn't breathe." While the old lady was tied up and cowering in fear in the living room, the accused (35 and 39) are said to have collected all the valuables from the house in Untertullnerbach and taken them with them. "The perpetrators then left the woman to die, so to speak," the public prosecutor confirms the attempted murder charge. 

Tied up for 20 hours
And the woman from Lower Austria - who appears in court in a wheelchair - also says in a shaky voice: "I thought I was dying, to be honest." "Did you scream for help?" the judge asks. "No one would have heard that." It was only by chance that she was discovered and rescued a full 20 hours later ...

Defendants deny despite DNA
The two Bulgarians vehemently deny the terrible crime against the 77-year-old - even though the DNA trace of the first defendant was found at the crime scene and the second defendant had traveled to Austria with him. One of them does not even claim to have been in Austria at the time of the crime and the 35-year-old cannot explain how his genetic material came to Untertullnerbach ...

A verdict is expected in the St. Pölten Regional Court in the late afternoon. The two Bulgarians with previous convictions face up to life imprisonment. And the old lady? "I still have a few things to go through, but I'm okay," she says bravely about her condition.