Coup in Vienna-Favoriten
Robbery at a casino: Perpetrator boxed for red-white-red
In April 2023, four men aged between 20 and 26 wanted to put an end to their dismal financial situation in Vienna. They spied on a casino and planned an armed robbery. The perpetrators included a once-ambitious martial artist who competed for Austria. The coup in Favoriten went wrong because a security guard fired a blank shot.
He was a boxer and also competed for Austria in international tournaments. However, the 26-year-old father of one daughter went off the rails after divorcing his wife. On Thursday, the former sportsman and two accomplices had to answer for aggravated robbery in Vienna Provincial Court. A fourth man was already sentenced to three and a half years in prison in November 2023. The reason: on April 17, 2023, the quartet robbed employees of the Monte Laa casino in Vienna-Favoriten as they were leaving the casino at around 3.15 a.m.
They had spied on the building three times in the preceding weeks to see when and how the employees left.
Die Staatsanwältin über die Tat
"They spied on the building three times in the weeks beforehand to see when and how the employees left the building," the prosecutor reported. "They split into two teams, were dressed in black and wore balaclavas." One duo had a gas pistol with them, the other a soft air pistol. They surprised the employees at the top of the stairs: "Put your hands behind your head and keep walking, then nothing will happen," shouted one of the perpetrators, trying to get the victims to unlock the door again. But because one of the employees, a security guard, was armed and fired a warning shot, the four robbers fled.
"We thought we'd make some quick money that way," says the ex-boxer and appears remorseful in the grand jury courtroom. Drug addiction, depression and financial problems were the triggers: "I was persuaded to do it." The fourth offender, who had already been convicted of the crime, had said: "You don't have to do anything, just be present to make the situation look serious." So he went along with it.
After the divorce, I got on the wrong track and started taking drugs. We wanted to make some quick money in the casino.
Der Kampfsportler im Prozess
Relevant previous conviction
This is not the first crime the former martial artist has been involved in. Last year, he was sentenced to 15 months conditional imprisonment in Wiener Neustadt for damage to property, coercion and robbery. And this time too, an offense of coercion is another fact in the indictment. However, the defendant pleaded not guilty to this: "I try to hurt as few people around me as possible." - Adjourned to May 7.
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