Apprentice trial

Public health officer attacked and beaten in panic

The accused was in a state of emergency at the time of the crime.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

An apprentice from Vorarlberg wanted to jump out of the window after being dismissed. During the examination by the medical officer in charge, he panicked and hit her. The case went to trial in Feldkirch on Thursday. 

The accused has been undergoing psychiatric treatment for his anxiety disorder for a long time. The young man suffers from agoraphobia. This means that he is afraid of closed, confined spaces. But situations that he perceives as existentially threatening also trigger panic in him.

This is what happened at the beginning of December last year when the apprentice was dismissed by his employer. It was too much for the young man, who then tried to take his own life by jumping out of the window while still at work. Fortunately, the attempt fails, the responsible public health officer is alerted and informed by the company doctor about the facts of the case and the 20-year-old's anxiety disorder.

After the accused informed the doctor that he was in a bad way and that he no longer saw any prospects due to the dismissal, she decided to have the patient admitted to Rankweil provincial hospital because he was a danger to himself. The dismissed man panics again due to his anxiety disorder and lashes out with his hands and feet. In the process, he hits the medical officer twice in the head with his fists. Fortunately, she only suffers minor injuries to her throat, neck, ear and shoulder.

"In a state of emergency"
During the trial, the defendant pleads guilty to all of the charges. He asks both the company doctor and the medical officer to forgive him for his behavior with a handshake and says: "Nothing justifies violence. That's why I'm undergoing psychiatric treatment. I want to do everything I can to ensure that something like this never happens again." As the defendant has no criminal record to date and is also trying to regain a foothold in his profession, the proceedings against him are settled by diversion and thus discontinued. Judge Sabrina Tagwercher justified this as follows: "You were in a state of emergency due to the dismissal and your suicide attempt."