Curious trial

Subway sprayer justifies himself with a fox

Near Rossauer Lände, the accused claims to have followed a fox into the subway.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Peter Tomschi, Tom - stock.adobe.com)

It was a chain of coincidences that led to the indictment of a Viennese man. He had observed "a natural spectacle" on the U4 line and fell over a bucket of blue paint.

He has a resonant name and seems to come from a good family. But the Viennese dropped out of the elite Theresianum school and entered professional life early. He is blameless and polite. The fitter has been charged with being responsible for graffiti on the U4 line between Friedensbrücke and Rossauerlände. Specifically for a huge bright blue spot of paint on a wall of Wiener Linien.

Work clothes with blue paint stains
A subway driver had reported sprayers next to the tracks that evening, operations had to be suspended and the power supply shut down. Eight patrol cars rushed to the scene, and in an alcove they caught the former private school student in work clothes with lightning blue stains on his clothing.

The man, who was approaching his 50s but dressed in youthful clothes, pleaded not guilty. On November 18, 2024, an iron door leading into the subway was left open near the Danube Canal: "I saw a fox there. I was curious, so I followed him across the tracks in the direction of Friedensbrücke. I stumbled over the paint bucket by the wall," he recounts his bumpy account. Which he also illustrates twice during the trial.

I saw a fox and followed it across the tracks. I tripped over the paint bucket by the wall.

Der Angeklagte in seinem Prozess.

Theatrical performances in the courtroom
He gets up from the prosecution chair, takes a few steps and then re-enacts the fall in Burgtheater style, dropping onto his stomach in front of the judge and the prosecutor with a loud bang. "I thought it was a vivid portrayal," he returns to his seat after being asked to do so by Mr. Rat. "Absolutely," replies Judge Patrick Madl.

The defendant can't stay in his chair. He gets down on all fours and shows how he acted in the subway tunnel to explain the blue paint stains on his clothes. "It was really unfortunate. I can understand that it looks strange to you, Mr. Richter."

The "work of art" was a huge blue stain on a wall of Wiener Linien.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

The prosecutor wants to know whether he has a special interest in foxes, especially as he follows them over live tracks: "No, it's my general affinity with animals." It was an "interesting natural spectacle". 

2160 euros damage
But: Due to the fatal optics, the defendant was prepared to pay for the damage amounting to 2160 euros. For the judge, this "acceptance of responsibility" was not sufficient for a diversion and he sentenced the man to one month's conditional imprisonment, reimbursement of the costs of the proceedings and compensation for the damage to Wiener Linien. "There were too many coincidences for me to explain. The evidence is overwhelming," he says in his reasons for the verdict.

The sprayer remains polite: "Mr. Judge. Thank you very much. Thank you for your lenient sentence," he leaves the courtroom, relieved.