Killed own brother

According to expert opinion: Axe offender (14) knew what he was doing

The crime scene

(Bild: Juergen Fuchs)

A 14-year-old boy killed his older brother in Kindberg (Styria) with 17 axe blows to the head. The boy later claimed that voices had ordered him to do it. But a court report now confirms the opposite.

The young man who caused a shock in Kindberg in September was only 14 years old: he attacked his 36-year-old brother with a Viking axe and killed him with at least 17 powerful blows to the head. The autopsy revealed that the teenager died of an air embolism and bled to death at the scene.

How did this happen?
An argument about housework had escalated, he initially stated in his interrogation. A while later, he spoke again and said that there was "something sinister" in him, a kind of "superego" that gave him terrible, heinous orders. In addition, the separation of his parents had been a shock for him and delusions had accompanied him ever since.

In the meantime, his brother had been like a substitute dad to him, although he had always been mean to him. After an argument, the voice had ordered him to kill the older man.

According to the psychiatric report, the accused was sane at the time of the crime. The file is now with the responsible public prosecutor for a decision.

Viktoria Steinecker, Sprecherin der Staatsanwaltschaft Leoben

Based on this information, lawyer Raimund Schüller assumed that his client was mentally ill, which is why he had to be admitted to a forensic therapy center.

No hospitalization?
However, the court report by renowned psychiatrist Peter Hofmann confirms the opposite for the 14-year-old: "According to the psychiatric report, the accused was sane at the time of the crime. The file is now with the responsible public prosecutor for a decision," says Viktoria Steinecker, spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office in Leoben, in response to an inquiry from Krone. A committal is therefore likely to be a long way off.