Trial in Feldkirch

Gambling millionaire targeted

The defendant pleaded not guilty and remained silent before the jury.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

Following an attack on a newly minted multimillionaire in Dornbirn, one of the two perpetrators had to answer to the jury in Feldkirch on Friday.

Dramatic scenes unfolded in an underground parking garage in Dornbirn on the night of March 24 last year. As the 13 million gambling millionaire was just getting out of his car, he was attacked by two men wearing balaclavas. A stun gun is also used. However, the perpetrators do not expect the victim to put up a fierce resistance. In the heat of the moment, the 47-year-old victim manages to pull down the balaclava of one of the men - and thus catch a glimpse of his facial features. Although the victim is already lying on the ground and screaming in pain, he is repeatedly maltreated with electric shocks by one of the perpetrators, while the other threatens: "A person doesn't need that much money. You will take 700,000 euros with you in your car. We will find you and you will give us the money", public prosecutor Heinz Rusch quotes from the criminal complaint.

A person doesn't need that much money. You will take 700,000 euros with you in your car. We will find you and you will give us the money!

Drohung aus dem Strafantrag

During the trial, the 47-year-old victim, who fortunately only suffered a few abrasions in the attack, stuck to his statements and added that he had recognized the voice of the 54-year-old first defendant at the time. He also recognized the second defendant because of the slipped balaclava. "I know both of them from the café where I was that evening before the attack." After the second defendant preferred to go into hiding and is now wanted on a European arrest warrant, the first defendant pleaded not guilty and remained silent in court. The trial was adjourned - also in the hope that the second defendant would have been caught by the police by the next day of the trial.