Fear of hair loss

Knife attack: hospitalization due to delusional disorder

Because he thought his work colleague wanted to poison him, a mentally ill man (29) stabbed him in Lamprechtshausen (photo from the trial).(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

A mentally ill Syrian man (29) thought that a work colleague wanted to poison him with a hair loss remedy - so he stabbed him with a knife. A jury is now deciding whether to commit him to a mental hospital.

The man in the middle of the jury courtroom in Salzburg Provincial Court suffers from a persistent delusional disorder, said public prosecutor Sebastian Wolfsteiner at the trial on Monday. "Due to an acute psychosis, he is not sane", Wolfsteiner applied for him to be placed in a mental hospital.

"He had the idea that he was Jesus"
 The man, who had already been sentenced to prison for a crime in 2019, had tried to kill his colleague under the influence of his illness, according to the public prosecutor: "If he had been sane, it would have been the crime of attempted murder." The bloody incident took place on August 9 at a company in Lamprechtshausen: the Syrian had made the decision to commit the crime the day before and had taken a switchblade knife to work.

If he had been sane, it would have been the crime of attempted murder.

Salzburger Staatsanwalt

He had the delusion that a work colleague was sprinkling hair powder on his pizza so that he would lose his hair. That's why he stabbed himself. The knife penetrated the victim's thigh - resulting in a serious injury and an operation. Since the court expert recognized the mental illness, the 29-year-old has been receiving treatment: "He had the idea that he was a prophet and Jesus. He will continue to need medical help," emphasized defence lawyer Leopold Hirsch.

Late in the evening on Monday, the jury decided to commit him and found attempted murder as the cause of the crime, not legally binding.