Trial in Feldkirch

“Machete man” sentenced to 14 years in prison

The 29-year-old defendant will have to spend the next few years behind bars.

(Bild: Chantal Dorn, Krone KREATIV)

A 29-year-old drug addict stabbed a cab driver with a machete and critically injured him. On Tuesday, the brute was put on trial at Feldkirch Regional Court. 

It was attempted murder! The 29-year-old defendant was sentenced to 14 years in prison at the Feldkirch jury court. By six votes to two, the senate considered it proven that the man, who had several previous convictions, had attempted to kill a cab driver in neighboring Switzerland at the end of November last year. "The victim was very lucky that a public bus happened to be approaching. Otherwise, the accused would have butchered the cab driver in cold blood," said public prosecutor Julia Berchtold in her summation.

Almost a year after the cowardly machete attack, the 46-year-old victim is still suffering from severe mental and physical pain. The father of the family has lost 70 percent of his sight in his right eye and a salivary gland had to be removed.

Victim describes the crime in a trembling voice
It's a big goosebump moment when the victim enters the courtroom: the long scars on his head and especially on his neck only hint at the brutality with which the machete man must have stabbed him. With a trembling voice, he describes the night of the crime: "I picked up the accused in Feldkirch. First he wanted to go to Schaan, then back to Buchs. He seemed very nervous and had glassy eyes. He also asked me pointless questions during the journey." When he arrived in Buchs, the passenger pulled a machete out of his jacket. With the words "Now comes what must come", the accused suddenly attacked him and stabbed him several times. The taxi driver was hit in the chest, head and neck area and critically injured.

The victim's blood was still on the murder weapon.

(Bild: Chantal Dorn)

Perpetrator: "I know it couldn't have been anyone else"
Fighting for his life, the man covered in blood manages to flee from his cab with the last of his strength. The accused followed him at first, but fled when he noticed the oncoming bus driver. Two days later, the 29-year-old was arrested by Cobra in Feldkirch. When questioned in court, the man admitted that the crime had happened. "I can't remember it because of my alcohol and drug addiction. But I know that it couldn't have been anyone else." The verdict is not yet final.