Trial in Eisenstadt

Man allegedly attacked wife with an axe

The defendant only took off his cap after being asked to do so.

(Bild: HS, Krone KREATIV)

"It was all made up", says the man from southern Burgenland in court. "She just wants to gain an advantage in the divorce." The traumatized victim counters: "I was afraid for my life. I had to record an audio file and say that I loved him and would never leave him."

The man from southern Burgenland does not know the name of the country in the former Soviet Union in whose capital he was born 58 years ago. He has to look it up on his cell phone, and then, when the trial at the Eisenstadt Regional Court has long been underway, he plays around with it impassively. It rings. The judge gets annoyed: "Don't you want to hear what you're accused of? We're talking about dangerous threats and serious coercion!"

Axe taken from the boiler room
On August 13, the man is said to have verbally abused his still-bedridden wife (50) - she had an accident at work in February and is now at least able to hobble again after rehab. He wanted to check her phone, she hid it. He went into the boiler room, came back with an axe, smashed it into the wall above the woman's head, pulled it out and ordered the defenceless woman at gunpoint to record an audio message. "I had to say: I love you and will never leave you. Otherwise he would hurt me. Four times his voice was too shaky, then he was satisfied," said the victim. "He was drunk as a skunk."

"There's no hole in the wall"
The jobseeker shakes his head in disbelief. "It was all made up. It was a family evening. We even had sex for the first time after her accident. There's no hole in the wall. The pictures she presents aren't true. The truth is that I'm no longer happy after 32 years of marriage. Maybe she's hoping to gain an advantage in the divorce proceedings by making such accusations."

So who had a gun?
After the woman confided in her daughter three weeks after the incident, she went to the police on September 29. Why? He says that on that day he wanted to return his dog to his son, with whom he has had no contact for three years. "The son threatened me with a gun. My wife just wants to protect him." She says: "He suddenly stood in the son's house and threatened him. He had a gun in his pocket. It was all too much for me."

The trial goes into extra time. More witnesses are summoned. And a local inspection has been requested: is there or was there a hole in the wall? The presumption of innocence applies.