Trial in Feldkirch

Offering box theft raises some mysteries

As the alleged perpetrator preferred not to appear at his trial, Judge Martin Mitteregger adjourned the hearing until the beginning of April.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

A thoroughly bizarre trial has been taking place at the Feldkirch Regional Court since Thursday. It is about a looted offering box and a mysterious note. 

An offering box has been broken into in the parish church in Tisis. And right in front of it on the floor was a slip of paper with a name on it. These are the ingredients of an extremely mysterious case. But let's start at the beginning: After the evening mass on January 20 last year, the vicar who was standing in for the actual priest noticed the offering box had been broken into. The priest then filed a complaint with the police against persons unknown. "It wasn't the first time that a thief had tampered with the offering box and made off with between 40 and 50 euros," the vicar, who was called as a witness, mentioned during the trial.

It was not the first time that a thief had tampered with the donation box in the church.

Der als Zeuge geladene Vikar

In the current case, however, neither the fingerprints taken nor the tapes from the surveillance camera revealed anything illuminating. As a result, the case is dropped.

One note, one name, one hit
Weeks later, a parish employee found a note with a name on it in the offering box and handed it to the priest, who had returned from vacation. After the police enter the name into the computer, a match is found for an Austrian with 21 criminal convictions. However, this is not enough to prove that the "professional thief" known in court is also the wanted victim of the theft from the Tisner parish church. The statements made by the two priests to the police also do little to clarify the case. While the vicar was unable to provide any information about the perpetrator, the priest referred to information from "hearsay".