Trial in Feldkirch

Father threatened and carer attacked

The senate of lay judges followed Reinhard Haller's recommendation and ordered admission to a forensic therapy center.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall/Krone KREATIV)

Because he poses a danger to society, a mentally ill man is now committed to an appropriate institution in Vorarlberg.  

The man, who committed the acts as part of a severe schizoaffective psychosis, has been battling the demons in his head for many years. He ended up in Rankweil hospital several times because of this. But as soon as he was released and without medication, the 30-year-old started taking drugs and the psychoses returned.

This was also the case on the evening of January 14 last year, when he suddenly appeared in his parents' living room, stared at the TV and said emotionlessly: "I have to kill his dad." When the son then leaves the room, his father calls the police and the victim ends up in Rankweil LKH once again.

I was very upset that evening because I was afraid of the wealth that the house exuded.

Der Angeklagte vor Gericht

A month later, he attacked a nurse there and injured him. The victim remembers: "I was doing a check on the ward that night when I saw the patient coming out of the room dressed. He said he couldn't sleep and wanted to smoke a cigarette. When I asked him to go back to the room and offered him some medication, everything happened very quickly. First he ripped off my glasses. Then he pushed me against the wall." When asked by the presiding judge Sabrina Tagwercher about the acts, the accused can no longer remember exactly what happened.

All he can say about the incident with his father is that he heard voices and felt threatened himself: "I was upset because I was afraid of the wealth that the house exuded." However, he describes the attack on the caretaker as an "explosion" that went "bang". After Primar Haller reminds the panel of lay judges once again that the "killing impulses are the dangerous thing about the patient's illness", the panel follows his recommendation after a brief deliberation and orders him to be admitted to a forensic therapy center. Which the patient also supports. The verdict is final.