Trial in Feldkirch

Fine for violent husband

The defendant was sentenced to a partial fine.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall/Krone KREATIV)

The accused Albanian beat and threatened his 29-year-old wife several times. At Feldkirch Regional Court on Monday, the 32-year-old was sentenced to a partial fine of 6240 euros.

Both the defendant and the victim made no secret of the fact that the marriage was not going well during the hearing at Feldkirch Regional Court. The trigger for the conflicts is said to have been the 29-year-old's poor relationship with the family of her previously blameless husband. She was at loggerheads with her mother in particular.

But that was the end of the similarities in the facts of the case. Both then claim to have been mentally and physically abused by the other. "I never hit my wife in my life. I only held her down when she came at me," the metalworker asserts. After the birth of their first child two years ago, she began to use psychological violence on him. "She pinched me and hit me in front of my relatives." He was even banned from using his cell phone "because she didn't want me to send photos of our son to my parents." He was also not allowed to go for walks alone with the children. That's why he wanted a divorce, the accused described his version of the story.

The victim described a typical violent relationship, said public prosecutor Alexander Kaindl.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

The statements of the victim, who told the court her side of the story in the absence of the accused, were completely contradictory. "He has beaten me since the birth of our first child in the summer of 2022. When I was pregnant with the second child, he pushed me so hard that I fell against the couch," reports the 29-year-old. Her husband also had an affair with another woman during her second pregnancy. "He choked me several times and hit me in the face with the flat of his hand. "I even called the police several times. But then he always took my cell phone away and made a cutthroat gesture."

There is now a no-contact order against the father of two and divorce proceedings are underway at Bludenz district court. Nevertheless, the tormented woman emphasizes: "If he had taken the blame for what he did to me, I would have been prepared to return to him." So the case came to an inglorious end with a guilty verdict against the 32-year-old violent offender for continued violence and attempted coercion. Judge Alexander Wehinger sentenced the man to a non-appealable partial fine of 6240 euros and awarded the victim 500 euros in partial compensation for pain and suffering.