Trial in Feldkirch

“God gave me permission to kill my father”

The man from Oberland was on trial for threatening, among other things(Bild: Chantall Dorn)

By order of the Feldkirch Regional Court, a mentally ill man from Oberland was committed to a forensic therapy center. He claimed that God had given him permission to murder his father.

The fact that nothing happened to the father of the 29-year-old victim is not only thanks to the special police task force. Rather, it was the shock call from the mentally ill son himself when he reported to the police station in Rankweil at the end of July last year: "I don't want to do this, but God has given me permission to stab my father."

When the son reports that he is already at his father's apartment, but he is still at work, the officer immediately sends a special unit there. The 29-year-old was arrested and taken to Rankweil provincial hospital. A similar incident had already occurred two days before the crime.

The accused also threatened the public health officer
The accused had called the Feldkirch district authority and told them that he was the public health officer's devil. He threatened the latter if he received another letter requesting a monthly drug test. "I had a psychosis. I thought the doctor was a Nazi," said the 29-year-old from Oberland. Of course, he recognizes that he is ill and needs treatment. But like all other people, he loves his freedom, which is why he asked the jury to refrain from committing him to a forensic therapy center.

Court psychiatrist Reinhard Haller certified that the early retiree was insane at the time of the crime. However, due to the schizophrenia diagnosed in the person concerned, Haller assumes that he will commit further serious acts if he is not treated as an inpatient. The Senate agrees with this. The committal is therefore a done deal.