Criminal brothers

How Justiz was able to “trick” 17-year-old crooks

The Linz judiciary has now scored a victory on points(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger/Daniel Scharinger)

"The jug goes to the well until it breaks" - this old saying is always true. In this particular case, it concerns a 17-year-old Slovakian who, together with his two younger brothers (aged 13 and 14), has been keeping the authorities on their toes for months with recurring crimes - because he was certified by an expert as having "delayed maturity".

The trio of brothers recently made the headlines several times for stealing and vandalizing cars in Linz and Leonding. We alone are aware of 17 such offenses. On January 17, for example, the two younger brothers broke into a car dealership in Leonding, broke through the closed entrance gate with a stolen SUV and severely damaged the car.

The suspect's personal impression did not match the expert opinion. We are now checking whether the delayed maturity is still present. In addition, he will soon be 18, so this can no longer be cited anyway.

Ulrike Breiteneder, Staatsanwaltschaft Linz

Bild: KERSCHBAUMMAYR / FOTOKERSCHI

Expert issued a quasi "carte blanche"
But for a long time, the criminals had a carte blanche. An expert certified that the two older children had "delayed maturity" and that the younger one was not yet of age to commit a crime - a legal blank check that caused a lack of understanding among both the child and youth welfare services of the province of Upper Austria and the caregivers.

But now the tables have turned
The eldest brother has been in custody in Linz for more than two weeks. He is accused of up to 20 burglaries in Vienna, Amstetten, Linz, Attnang and Leonding, as Ulrike Breitender from the Linz public prosecutor's office confirmed in response to an inquiry from the "Krone" newspaper. During his interrogation, there was no trace of the delayed maturity. Another expert opinion will now be obtained.