Perpetrator: "I was scared!"

Attempted murder or self-defense?

The defendant affirmed that he had not intended to kill.

(Bild: Stockner)

He had felt cornered. "I was scared, I had a panic attack", a 27-year-old man from Graz grabbed a knife and cut the face of his opponent (48), who was provoking him. Attempted murder or self-defense? The jury's decision will have to wait, the trial was adjourned on Tuesday due to further witnesses.

"He deliberately tried to kill him", says public prosecutor Rudolf Fauler. The victim suffered a 15 cm long wound from the left corner of his mouth over his ear to the back of his head. "The man only survived thanks to the emergency medical intervention and surgical treatment," said the prosecutor. "It is only thanks to chance that the main artery was not hit."

The blameless 27-year-old employee must answer for attempted murder. "It was a drunken brawl at one o'clock in the morning," the public prosecutor continues. "The victim approached the defendant, insulted and attacked him. Then he pulled out this damned knife he was carrying. And he thought it was at least possible that the other person would die."

It was a cut out of defensive behavior, out of fear - and that was it!

Verteidiger Bernhard Lehofer

Bild: Christian Jauschowetz

"Showed no aggression"
"Yes, unfortunately he had the knife in his pocket", says defense lawyer Bernhard Lehofer. Still from work, where he often had to cut up cardboard. The evening had started quite normally. "My client chatted harmlessly, spoke to a group, didn't show any form of aggression. For no reason, the later victim suddenly began to provoke him. He punched and kicked him, attacked him."

Then the 27-year-old makes exactly one cut. "Out of defensive behavior, out of fearfulness - and that was it. He didn't want to kill him, nothing was further from his mind. He made a defensive move, he felt cornered," emphasizes Lehofer.

If you're afraid of a dog, you don't go there, you go away. Why didn't you just leave?

Frage des vorsitzenden Richter Andreas Lenz an den Angeklagten

Bild: Christian Jauschowetz

Everything on the blood was thrown away
The accused himself still remembers the panic and fear he felt. He threw away his clothes and the knife after the crime. "I arrived home in my underwear." - "Why did you do that?" asks the presiding judge Andreas Lenz. "I threw away everything that had blood on it." A few hours later, the young man, who suffers from panic attacks due to a childhood trauma, turned himself in to the police.

A surveillance video recorded the entire incident and will also be played in court. "When did you pull the knife?" the judge wants to know. "When he choked me, I think. I felt pain and was afraid." - "If you're afraid of a dog, you don't go there, you go away. Why didn't you just leave?" - "I had a panic attack and he blocked my escape route."

 The trial was adjourned.