Trial in Wels

Boyfriend stabbed to death: According to the lawyer, it was “self-defense”

Murder trial next Wednesday in Wels: A Montenegrin (40) is said to have killed a Bosnian of the same age in Marchtrenk last year. Now the defense attorney has come up with an unusual strategy: It was a putative execution.

It was an execution: a Montenegrin businessman (40) from Rutzing allegedly stabbed an employee of the same age from Bosnia with five stabs using a kitchen knife with a 20-centimetre blade at 6.30 a.m. on 31 March 2023 in a storage area in Marchtrenk. The motive for the crime is likely to have been jealousy: Because according to the investigation, the accused called his wife, with whom he is divorced, after the five stabbings and confessed to the crime. He then threatened to kill her as well. Background: He suspected that his wife was having an affair with the later murder victim.

Murder suspect was known to the authorities
The Montenegrin was known to the police and had only been convicted in February of the previous year for continued violence against his divorced wife. He only had to spend ten hours behind bars at the time, but was then released in exchange for lenient measures.

"Drive, drive, drive!"
At the beginning of the investigation, a worker (19) was also targeted by the police. The Montenegrin had jumped into the car with the bloody knife: "Drive, drive, drive!" While a witness alerted the police, the 40-year-old fled with the Serb to a café in Traun, where he was arrested. The man will now stand trial in Wels next Wednesday, charged with murder.

Fear of a possible weapon in his rucksack
However, defense lawyer Andreas Mauhart is making people sit up and take notice in advance with an unusual strategy. He wants to plead "putative self-defense excess". His client believed that the later victim had a weapon in his rucksack. He therefore stabbed him before the Bosnian could draw the weapon he suspected ...