Robbery without loot

Fortune teller trusted – long prison sentences handed down

The Hungarians were brought out of custody by the prison guards. They will not see their children for some time.(Bild: HS, Krone KREATIV)

Tobacco shop robbery in Gols: A couple who did not take a penny and did not injure anyone were given long prison sentences. Both had trusted a fortune teller from Hungary who had predicted a future of wealth through the robbery.

At the end of October, the 31-year-old should have just stood on the lookout outside the tobacconist's in Gols, because her boyfriend (38) had said: "I'm the man, I'm doing this alone." Because she was afraid for him, she also put on a balaclava, put on gloves, entered and saw him waving his hunting knife around.

Traumatic experience
"I'm certainly not going to open the till," said the tobacconist confidently at the time. But the woman still has to deal with the traumatic experience today.

The couple had a brief consultation and left the tobacconist's without having taken a single penny - they took off the balaclavas. The large-scale manhunt was successful on November 8, and the blameless Hungarians were taken to Eisenstadt for pre-trial detention.

"The fortune teller was always right"
According to the defendant at the trial in Eisenstadt, a fortune teller was mainly responsible for the ill-considered crime. "She told us to rob a tobacconist, then we'd be rid of our money worries." The 38-year-old speaks slowly and sometimes incomprehensibly. This is due to a brain haemorrhage following a stroke three years ago. "The fortune teller was always right."

"The knife wasn't out"
His girlfriend, who had bought a lighter in the tobacconist's on the morning of the robbery to find out the situation, also mentions the financial aspect. "We wanted to go on vacation together so much. With his son, with mine. Like a real family." She claims not to have known that her partner had a hunting knife with him when he entered the tobacconist's. "That wasn't agreed."

The defendant's son had to celebrate his fourth birthday on Friday without his mother, who was given two years' unconditional imprisonment. Her boyfriend was given three and a half years unconditional. He accepted, she asked for time to think about it, the public prosecutor's office made no statement. Therefore: not legally binding.