Stashed at home

Too stoned to deliver parcels and letters?

The defendant confessed fully, which was taken into account as a mitigating factor.

(Bild: zVg)

The postman did not deliver RSa and RSb consignments and stored undelivered goods in his apartment. He and his girlfriend were curious about what was in the parcels - but he did not use the contents. He was also heavily addicted to drugs, he tries to explain.

"If it's really important, it's better to send it by post" - was the advertising slogan of Austrian Post. Judge Michael Böhler apparently also sees it this way in view of the many competing companies - DHL, GLS etc. - and says: "If the population can no longer rely on the post office, then we have a problem." This is why the case of undelivered RSa and RSb letters and parcels is a "crime with a strong external impact", according to the judge.

If the population can no longer rely on the postal service, then we have a problem.

Michael Böhler

Five grams of marijuana consumed per day
Over a period of eight months - from August 2023 to March 2024 - the Hungarian (37), who worked as a letter carrier in Ötztal, had failed to deliver various letters and parcels, including ATM cards. Specifically, he is accused of abuse of authority, embezzlement, theft, suppression of documents, alienation of non-cash means of payment and drug trafficking.

My girlfriend and I were curious, so we opened the parcels. We didn't use the contents.

Der Angeklagte

You might think that the latter doesn't fit in with the previous offenses, but this is exactly where the defendant's lawyer sees a connection: because his client had consumed very heavily - he was caught with 600 grams of cannabis and five bottles of hashish oil during a police check - he was overwhelmed with the postal service. He had consumed five grams a day at the time of the crime. His poor knowledge of German had done the rest.

So was the accused simply too stoned to deliver the parcels and important letters? In any case, he did not use any of the contents of the parcels, the confessed Hungarian testified. He and his girlfriend were simply curious about the contents of the parcels. He also only kept the ones that were impossible to deliver.

Sentence too high for defendant, appeal lodged
His confession was taken into account as a mitigating factor, but his previous conviction (the 37-year-old had already been caught with narcotics once) was an aggravating factor. The judge sentenced him to one and a half years' imprisonment, whereby he would have to serve six months in prison. An appeal was lodged. The case is now going to the OLG.