Trial in Eisenstadt

Head-on into oncoming traffic: driver allowed to go home

No handcuffs were used this time when he was brought into the courtroom.(Bild: HS)

"He hit me head-on," says the oncoming driver, whose words are not heard at Eisenstadt Regional Court. The person responsible for the accident justifies himself by saying that he had dropped his cell phone while driving and had therefore "wrecked" the car. 

Initially, the incident in June looked like a traffic accident with personal injury. However, because the person responsible stated on the spot that he had deliberately steered his car into the oncoming lane at 100 km/h and thus knowingly caused the head-on crash, the officers pricked up their ears. What's more, the pensioner kept muttering in hospital that he was "the baddest of the bad".

Finally, the man from northern Burgenland was taken into custody for attempted murder and brought before the lay assessor's panel at the regional court on Friday. There they considered whether to place him in a forensic therapy center because he was a danger to others.

"He became talkative after heavy medication"
He had not slept for eight days before the head-on crash because he was always thinking about his 150,000 euro debt. "I dropped my cell phone while driving, I picked it up and then he crashed. That's all I know. I would never commit suicide." His client suffers from Alzheimer's dementia and his daughter was appointed as his adult representative, says the lawyer: "After the accident, the doctors in hospital gave him heavy medication. Then he presumably became talkative. After being remanded in custody, he is a broken man" who "just wants to go home!"

He is allowed to do this because a court expert is of the opinion that the person concerned is currently not a danger and that there are currently no profound psychological problems due to the existing illness. The decision is already legally binding and the man can now leave his fate in the hands of his daughter.

Oh yes, he is no longer allowed to drive cars.