Fatal stabbing

19 years after the crime: a trial with contradictions

According to the defense lawyer, the prosecution is "on shaky ground" - the crime was committed 19 years ago.

(Bild: APA/KARIN ZEHETLEITNER)

A 19-year-old blood crime was tried before a jury in Graz on Friday. A 54-year-old man is said to have killed a man with a stab to the heart in 2005 after a dispute over money. Two witnesses offered different versions of what happened. The accused, who was caught in 2023, denies the crime and fled Austria after the incident.

"We are in a trial in which nothing is clear," the defense lawyer began her remarks. The public prosecutor had previously described the facts of the case from her point of view. She described how the Georgian was accused by a fellow countryman of stealing money from him in a betting café. He then summoned the now 54-year-old to an apartment where he waited with two other men for "Dito", as he was nicknamed.

"Ditto stabbed me"
An argument broke out between the three men and the later victim stabbed the accused twice with a knife. According to the prosecutor, the suspect left the apartment. The two men met again in the courtyard, where the accused is said to have "stabbed his opponent in the heart". According to a witness, the seriously injured man is said to have said "Ditto stabbed me", then he died.

"The prosecution is on shaky ground", the defense lawyer was convinced. Her client had been threatened by two men in the apartment and tried to flee. "Why would he attempt to kill someone on the street if he already had the knife in the apartment?"

The fact is that a short time later, a dead body was found in the street and a bloody knife, which according to the expert would have matched the wound, was found in the apartment. However, the 54-year-old did not go back into the apartment, the lawyer argued.

Defendant pleads not guilty
The defendant did not feel guilty and stated that the victim was drunk and had been smoking when he left the scene. He had previously been injured by him with a knife. "Where did he get the knife?" asked Judge Angelika Hacker. "How should I know that?" replied the defendant. "Because you were in the apartment," replied the presiding judge. However, the defendant gave no details. "I never had a knife in my hand," he emphasized.

Contradictory witness statements
Of the two alleged witnesses to the crime, the first told different versions of the course of events. In 2005, he stated that he had seen the victim kneeling on the ground and covering his wound. Later he described that he had seen the alleged perpetrator standing nearby.

And this time his statement was: "He stabbed him in front of me". "You did not testify the previous year that he had stabbed him," the judge reproached him. "Why didn't you tell the right story from the start?" the defense lawyer was also interested. "I was afraid of him," the witness said in reference to the defendant. In addition, the interviewee emphasized several times that he had been suffering from "post-traumatic stress disorder" since then, which would also affect his memory. A verdict is expected on Friday evening.