Murder verdict confirmed

Short trial after three verdicts

The original trials took place at the regional court in Ried.

(Bild: ©Constantin Handl)

It was probably one of the most unusual trials in Upper Austria - a 33-year-old woman from the Innviertel region had to stand trial three times for attempted murder before a jury in Ried because two of the verdicts did not stand. The last one has now been upheld and it was a short trial.

The Supreme Court had already ruled that it was attempted murder when the now 33-year-old woman drew a blade across her then husband's neck in his sleep and seriously injured him. It was lucky that he survived.

"I've never experienced anything like it"
So it was all about the sentence. Lawyer Andreas Mauhart wanted it to be "well below the 14 years that had been handed down the second time". At the third trial, the sentence had been reduced to 15 years. The main reason he gave for the reduction was that his client had now been in custody for 32 months, isolated, completely banned from communicating with children and other family members. "I've never experienced anything like it," the lawyer demanded that this be taken into account as a mitigating factor.

A brief review
Why everything took so long: The first trial was overturned by the professional judges after the jury did not convict of attempted murder, which the judges considered to be an "error". The second trial was overturned on grounds of nullity because a witness important to the defense was not called. And the third trial resulted in 15 years - too long for the convicted woman. 

One reason was dropped, one added
At the Linz Higher Regional Court, the panel of judges did not follow the defense's arguments, in particular the "excessive length of the trial", as Mauhart said, had already been considered a mitigating factor. Furthermore, there had been no periods "in which the authorities had been inactive". The subsequent offense - the mother had accused her then 13-year-old daughter - was removed as an aggravating circumstance, but the use of a weapon was added as an aggravating circumstance. This leaves the 15 years and 3,000 euros in partial pain and suffering. 

Transfer to women's prison
The 33-year-old, who had left everything to her lawyer, did not show much emotion as she left the courtroom. Her only consolation: she will be allowed to leave custody in two days and will be transferred to Schwarzau women's prison in Lower Austria.