Trial in Vorarlberg

Romanian woman “seasoned” soup with poisonous cleaning agent

The defendant had already spoken to her ex-boyfriend beforehand. Her ex-boyfriend therefore waived compensation for pain and suffering.(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

The accused had beaten her boyfriend in a drunken stupor and simply added cleaning agent to his soup. On Thursday, she had to answer for this at the regional court in Feldkirch (Vorarlberg). In the end, she got off lightly. 

"I'm sorry about what happened. I'm actually quite nice otherwise," the 48-year-old Romanian woman said on Thursday at the Feldkirch Regional Court. Unfortunately, the cleaner, who lives in Graz, can no longer remember the incident from July last year in Hohenems. At least that's what she says. She blames the partial amnesia on the fact that she was drunk that evening. "I only know that I spoke to my sister on the phone and later called the police," claims the accused.

Beatings and wild threats
The version of the 44-year-old victim, on whose statement to the police at the time the indictment is based, is completely different. According to public prosecutor Matthias Gufler, the accused initially hit her boyfriend in the face during an argument and threw a wine glass at him. When the man fled into the bedroom, she followed him with a bottle in her hand and threatened: "There's a highly corrosive liquid in the bottle. I'm going to kill you today!" This constitutes assault and a dangerous threat.

There is a highly corrosive liquid in the bottle. I'm going to kill you today.

Angeklagte drohte dem Opfer

According to the victim, the 48-year-old is also said to have spiked a soup with a cleaning agent. Fortunately, the 44-year-old did not eat any of the soup. He has his "good nose" to thank for this: "When I opened the fridge, I could already smell the cleaning agent," he said during his police interrogation at the time. Which is why the Romanian woman also has to answer for attempted assault. 

Judge agrees to a diversion
In the meantime, the otherwise married woman and her spouse have gone their separate ways. Nevertheless, the two have reconciled. And so the victim waives compensation for pain and suffering. Because the Romanian woman has confessed and has no criminal record, public prosecutor Matthias Gufler agrees to a diversionary settlement of the case. The "passionate cook" only has to pay 200 euros in lump sum costs.