"For support"

Vienna: Bank robber brought loot straight to the police

Unusual trial for a young Viennese man who robbed his regular bank in August.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Anja Richter)

A 23-year-old Viennese robbed his own customer advisor in his regular branch in Donaustadt. "Give me the money!" he shouted and formed his fingers into a pistol under a plastic bag. With the stolen money, he walked straight to the nearest police station. And surprised the officer there with the reason for the "test robbery" - trial in the Vienna countryside.

On October 24, 2024 at around 1:30 p.m., a 23-year-old Viennese man enters his regular bank in Vienna-Donaustadt. His bank manager, who has known the young man for some time, is sitting at the counter. But when he stands in front of her, he suddenly shouts: "This is a robbery, money here" Only five hundred!" He forms a firearm with his fingers under a plastic bag. 

It's a robbery, give me the money! Just five hundred!

Der Bankräuber zu seiner Kundenbetreuerin, die Schalterdienst hatte.

Bank employee handed over several thousand euros 
The bank employee had the presence of mind to react: "I thought about sending him out. But then I thought it might be a real weapon after all." First she told him that there were no 500s. The accused then replied: "I want money, it's a test robbery for the police."

 The threatened woman was surprised and handed over several thousand euros in shock. She had already pressed the emergency button. "It was a very awkward situation."

Police officers were just about to leave for the crime scene
The bank robber was able to leave the branch unhindered with the money. What happened next is surprising: "He went to the nearest police station and handed the money back in himself," says the public prosecutor in Vienna's Landl district in the trial against the Viennese man.

Under a plastic bag, the man used his fingers to pretend to point a gun at the victim.

(Bild: Symbol)

The police officers were astonished. They had just been called to the bank by radio when the robber walked in the door with the filled plastic bag. "He said that he had committed a test robbery and that we should use the money together to fight crime," said the police officer as a witness.

His thoughts are bizarre, he is very restless. The crime is riddled with aggressive psychosis.

Gerichtsgutachter Peter Hofmann

"I only faked the attack for her"
The trial is not about a sentence, but about placement in a forensic therapy center. According to court psychiatrist Peter Hofmann, the man suffers from paranoid schizophrenia: "His thoughts are bizarre, he is very restless. The crime is permeated by his aggressive psychosis," he attests, stating that he is not sane.

The victim is polite during the trial, speaks calmly, but is confused: "I was joking with the lady, I played a bank robbery on her," he says to the judge. He said to the officers: "I brought you money from the bank. So that we can get the drug trade under control." The man himself was heavily addicted to drugs, which is why he slipped into homelessness.

Placed in an institution
He had already been admitted to a psychiatric ward eleven times before the bank robbery, but was always released quickly. This time he has to stay longer. Judge Eva Brandstetter, who presides over the panel of lay judges, pronounces the placement in an institution.