Suffering from hepatitis?

Prison sentence after spitting attack on police officer

The defendant had been in custody since his arrest.(Bild: Chantall Dorn)

The accused violently resisted arrest by four officers and spat in the mouth of one of them. Whether the accused suffered from hepatitis C at the time was not finally clarified during the trial at Feldkirch Regional Court.

Strained shoulder, broken kneecap, torn cruciate ligament. "I have never seen such serious bodily injury to an officer in the course of an arrest," said Judge Theo Rümmele, confronting the 31-year-old defendant with the facts. In July, the accused put up massive resistance to his arrest by four police officers in Dornbirn city center. Particularly bad: although the aggressive man knew that he was suffering from hepatitis C, he did not hesitate to spit in the mouth of an officer during the course of the arrest, thus exposing him to the risk of infection. The "spitting llama" has been in custody since his arrest.

Denied access to public viewing
When the 31-year-old was led into the courtroom on Wednesday by prison guards and questioned about the incidents, the accused pleaded guilty. He had stopped his therapy two days before his outburst and therefore no longer had any medication. Because he couldn't sleep and needed something to calm him down, he drank half a bottle of vodka and then went to the public viewing. He was refused entry there and things escalated.

"Whether you believe it or not. But I'm sorry," said the defendant remorsefully. However, he denies that he was still suffering from hepatitis C at the time of the crime. This is also clear from a medical report presented to the court by defense lawyer Maximilian Fritz. Public prosecutor Sarah Nenning takes a critical view of this and requests that the certificate be decoded.

In order not to prolong the proceedings, the council rules out this fact and sentences the previously convicted offender to 15 months in prison.