Ex-girlfriend charged

Poison attack: “Life has changed brutally”

The accused is said to have tried to kill Andreas F. twice.

(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

In July 2022, his girlfriend at the time offered Andreas F. a special drink. Since then, he has been almost completely blind. Bernadette H. is said to have tried to kill the 42-year-old twice and is responsible for him being in prison. However, the appearance of the visually impaired man at her trial leaves the Lower Austrian woman unimpressed.

Andreas F. is brought into the courtroom at Korneuburg Regional Court (Lower Austria) on the second day of the trial with two bodyguards - he finds his way around with his cane. The defendant, who is said to be responsible for his visual impairment, is sitting less than two meters away from him. However, he did not want to give his evidence in the absence of the 32-year-old - he wanted her to see how he was doing after more than two years.

Love at first sight at the village fair
He begins to tell the story: "I met Ms. H. at a village fair in 2012. I was already a little smitten with her." In 2021, the 42-year-old and Bernadette H. started dating, and the following year they started a relationship. She quickly broached the subject of marriage. Because the 32-year-old now had a 12-year-old daughter, she wanted to secure herself - also financially.

Two men from the Klosterneuburg weight training club accompanied the visually impaired Andreas F. to his testimony.

(Bild: zVg)

"I thought to myself, before I marry her, I'll do it with the notary. It's cheaper," smiles Andreas F. in retrospect. At the beginning of July 2022, he named his then girlfriend - for the first time - as the sole heir to his fortune of around three million euros ...

She encouraged me to drink this cup. She said if you drink it, we'll have good sex. I'm just a man too ...

Nach dem Getränk erblindete Andreas F. 

"Then on July 8, the first incident occurred where my life brutally changed." At a party at his Vierkanthof in Glinzendorf (Lower Austria), his girlfriend at the time offered him a "special drink". "She encouraged me to drink this cup. She said if you drink it, we'll have good sex. I'm just a man too ..."

Five days in a coma and almost completely blind
What the 42-year-old didn't know at the time was that the cup contained methanol and magic mushrooms. "In the end, I was in a coma for five days. That was terrible," F. remembers. Since then, he has only had a visual acuity of two to three percent. "That was a nervous breakdown, of course." On the advice of his sister, he canceled the will he had drawn up earlier.

The defendant at the start of the trial in Korneuburg Regional Court (Lower Austria).

(Bild: Antal Imre/Imre Antal, Krone KREATIV)

Until Bernadette H. told him at the end of the summer of 2022 that she was pregnant - once again, she was his sole heir. A short time later on November 2: "She wanted the two of us to have a drink at my house. Before we went to bed, she gave me two muffins that she had baked with her daughter. She really wanted me to eat them." He was also told to swallow eight to ten tablets - "She said they were food supplements. Then I blacked out."

Relationship ends after cutting his pulse
He finally woke up in Mistelbach hospital with a cut artery in his left arm. "The doctors said I had tried to kill myself. I thought that wasn't possible. I then went home and ended the relationship because I thought to myself, what else is going to happen now?"

"Tip of the iceberg"
Then things went quiet, says the 42-year-old. He settled into his new life and had to learn a lot of new things. "Until May 17th. That was the tip of the iceberg." He woke up in the morning and couldn't find his cell phone. His home help then called him. A woman called to say she had found his phone on the street in Bernadette H.'s home town. Andreas F. was finally arrested on the way there.

Lawyer Arthur Machac is representing the victim and is demanding 300,000 euros in compensation for pain and suffering and damages.

(Bild: Peter Grotter)

"You kept repeating, 'Admit that you stabbed your girlfriend. I didn't even know what had happened", the Lower Austrian explained to the jury. He ended up spending eight weeks in custody for an alleged knife attack on the 32-year-old.

Poisoner leaves testimony cold
It was all staged, H. admitted on the first day of the trial in Korneuburg Regional Court. However, it was the analysis of Andreas F.'s voice assistants that ultimately exonerated him and provided him with an alibi. 

The testimony of the 42-year-old lasted four hours. Which apparently left Bernadette H. completely unaffected. At times, the client of lawyer Sascha Flatz merely shakes her head. Because the 32-year-old pleads not guilty to the two murder charges. It was an accident or attempted suicide. If convicted on November 13, she faces life imprisonment and placement in a forensic therapy center.