Trial in Feldkirch

Accused pocketed the daily allowance

This was not the first time the woman had reached into the till to help herself.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall/Dorn / Krone KREATIV)

The accused embezzled thousands of euros to plug her own financial holes. The woman had to answer for her actions at the trial in Feldkirch Regional Court on Thursday.

"I was overwhelmed and also had private problems," explained the innocent woman at the trial on Thursday. The 42-year-old is accused of misusing her position as a branch manager and not taking several daily lottery tickets to the bank, but keeping them for herself. A total of 26,000 euros.

Particularly brazen: The accused is a repeat offender. Last year, she had already abused her responsible position as branch manager at a goods trading company in Oberland and stole almost 10,000 euros. The woman was dismissed without notice at the time.

A short time later, when the criminal held the same position at a fashion chain in Zimbapark, money suddenly went missing there too. This time it was 16,000 euros.

When confronted by her supervisor, the accused initially appeared shocked and ignorant. She had done the weekly accounts, but still had no time to deposit the money in the shopping center's ATM a few meters away. That's why she deposited the week's takings in the safe several times. A safe to which the other employees also had access. The fact is that the money remained missing. The court believes that the defendant was overwhelmed in her job. But not that she did not have time to go to the vending machine 30 meters away.

Judge Alexander Wehinger sentenced the woman to a conditional prison sentence of four months and a fine of 720 euros. She must also make restitution in the amount of 9800 euros within two weeks.

Repeated offenses
The court considered her previous good conduct, the partial confession and the restitution of 250 euros to be mitigating factors, while the numerous repeated offenses were aggravating factors. The verdict is not yet final.