Went to get a wallet

Pensioner robbed on her way to the lost property office

It happened on the way to the lost property office.(Bild: Zwefo)

A Viennese woman (77) was robbed twice: first in the supermarket and then on her way to the lost property office - injured!

For this 77-year-old pensioner from Liesing, her subjective feeling of safety has deteriorated dramatically in a very short space of time. "Until now, I wasn't afraid, but now I am," she explains in an interview with Krone. What had happened?

Her wallet was stolen while she was shopping in the supermarket and turned up in the lost property office. On the way there, the pensioner was brutally attacked - and ended up in hospital. Twice in a row.

The pensioner's wallet was stolen first (symbolic image).(Bild: Jacob Ammentorp Lund, stock.adobe.com (Symbolbild))

But everything in order
Gerlinde K. (name changed by the editors) goes shopping, connected to a 24-hour ECG that day for health reasons. On the way home, she remarks: "My wallet is gone. So I drove back, but it soon became clear that it had probably been stolen when I was clearing out the trolley," she says. Annoying, but unfortunately commonplace in a big city like Vienna. She has the cards blocked.

At the end of February, she receives a letter from the lost property office: the wallet has been found, unsurprisingly without any money inside. "So I set off to pick it up in Siebenbrunnenfeldgasse." And that's how Gerlinde K. went from victim number one to victim number two: Because on her way to the office to pick up her stolen purse, she fell into the clutches of a robber.

Handbag snatched away
"I was carrying my handbag on my left side and kept the straps short, so I was properly threaded into the loops," explains the 77-year-old. "Then I saw a shadow next to me on my left. Suddenly someone snatched my bag away." In desperation, the pensioner clings to the strap until it breaks, the robber exerts even more force - and Gerlinde K. falls to the ground with full force: "I kept calling for help, for help, I screamed at the top of my lungs."

Serious injury
Passers-by help her, the ambulance and police arrive. Perpetrator number two has the stolen bag: keys and address. She herself is seriously injured, with a splintered shoulder. Her arm is in a sling and unable to move. She is in severe pain.

The result: stolen purse with around 150 euros in contents. Robbed handbag - about the same amount again. Costs for locksmith and new lock: 655 euros.

And a traumatized pensioner.