Even admits crime

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The bloody deed happened in front of this house in Linz-Ebelsberg

(Bild: Einöder Horst)

"I plead guilty," says the 25-year-old Serbian man who is on trial in Linz for allegedly trying to kill his ex-girlfriend at the end of August 2024. The day after her 22nd birthday, after she had once again said that there would be no more relationship. The sentence of 17 years is too high for the accused - not legally binding.

The Serbian man had allowed himself to be arrested without resistance in front of the apartment building where his sister lives. After the crime, he had inflicted five stabs on himself and was rescued, as was his victim, who was in acute mortal danger and was saved by emergency surgery - six stabs had hit his neck and upper body and also injured his windpipe.

Separation never accepted
The background to the crime is the separation of the couple, who had been "together" since their youth - he was around 15, she twelve years old - in their old homeland and had even been ritually married. But he apparently didn't want to admit it, even after the young Serbian woman moved to Upper Austria in 2023, had a new partner here and worked as a cleaner.

"Strange scene" before the birthday
However, there was repeated contact, including in August of the previous year, when the 25-year-old came to Linz to visit his father, brother and sister - and also his ex. The day before her birthday, according to the public prosecutor, there was a "strange scene" in the young woman's apartment, which is also available on video: He takes her head, indicates a cut across her neck, just as if he wanted to break her neck. 

"We were just joking"
"The idea of killing the later victim had probably solidified," said the public prosecutor, who spoke of a grievance because the Serbian had not been invited to the later victim's 22nd birthday party the following day. "We were just joking", the accused said in court. It was probably not so funny for his ex, "she kicked me out of the apartment afterwards", the accused reported. In total, there were three videos that the victim had recorded, "because he kept threatening to kill me".

"I loved her"
"I only saw black. I stabbed her without emotion," the 25-year-old confessed in court about what happened the next day, August 29, after he had asked his ex to bring him a suitcase to his sister's apartment in Linz-Ebelsberg. He wanted her to come back to Serbia - "because I love her, I loved her" - and initially only took the knife with a nine-centimeter blade with him "to scare her". But the "debate" did not go as he wanted and he stabbed her six times.

A kick to the testicles saved the victim
The victim described, sometimes in tears, that she no longer wanted a relationship after the repeated threats. The perpetrator then pulled out the knife and told her that he wanted to kill her. "That's the best way", he is said to have said as he pulled her by the hair and stabbed her several times. The knife even got stuck in the wound once and the victim pulled it out herself. The 22-year-old was only able to escape "because I kicked him in the genitals". 

Both had new partners
The victim was able to escape from the car in which they had met to neighbors and was saved by emergency surgery. "I wanted her and I to stop living," the accused later admitted, stabbing himself five times in the chest with the blade and injuring his lungs. The accused, who incidentally also had a new partner after the break-up, denied that he had said to the victim, "I should have done that a long time ago".

Lawyer asked for "a perspective"
"He doesn't want to minimize the crime, he will have to deal with his actions for a long time to come. In the end, it's about what you do with the defendant. My aim is to give him a perspective," says lawyer Manfred Arthofer. Because with his previously blameless client, he promised never to molest the victim again. However, the 22-year-old said that she was afraid that it would continue if the perpetrator went free again. She was threatened with ten to 20 years or even life imprisonment. The victim's lawyer claimed around 9,000 euros in compensation for pain and suffering and hospital costs, which was also recognized.

The verdict came shortly after 4 p.m.: guilty, 17 years in prison. The defendant immediately appealed the sentence, the public prosecutor's office took three days to reconsider - hence no legal force.