Trial in Graz

Bomb threat at disco: “Was a drunken mistake”

The Bollwerk in Graz-Puntigam was evacuated in March 2024 after a bomb threat. No explosive device was found.(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

A 22-year-old Carinthian made a bomb threat and caused the evacuation of a large disco in Graz. He also broke into a kindergarten while intoxicated and emptied the children's piggy bank. Further offenses and a whole host of previous convictions now earn the accused a year in prison. 

A lively party night at the Bollwerk in Graz-Puntigam was brought to an abrupt end a year ago shortly after midnight by a large contingent of police and sniffer dogs: After the Red Cross received a call that an unknown man had planted several bombs in the disco, the venue was evacuated and closed for the night. Nothing was found, leaving hundreds of angry revellers behind.

"The time for petting is over"
On Thursday, the caller went on trial in Graz - but not just for the "pretense of a punishable offense", as the law states, and not for the first time either. The 22-year-old already has "a bit of experience with the court", as judge Barbara Schwarz gently put it. He already had several previous convictions as a teenager, including for attempted robbery, fraud and several burglaries. "Today is your first time before an adult criminal court. The time for petting is over," the judge makes the seriousness of the situation clear to the taciturn but polite young man.

In addition to the bomb threat, the Carinthian with Styrian roots ("I moved to Klagenfurt, in Graz I was with the wrong people") was also charged with assault, burglary, embezzlement and fraud.

"What was your motive?" Judge Schwarz wants to know the motive behind the "unspeakable phone call" with the bomb threat. "To be honest, I don't know myself. A drunken mistake on my part," replies the defendant. The apprentice criminal also has little to say about the break-ins into cellar compartments, including bicycle thefts - "I have no answer to that." 

Burglary under the influence of alcohol and pills
He also can't really explain why he smashed a window of a kindergarten in Graz under the influence of drugs and emptied the children's piggy bank there (whopping haul: 123.33 euros). He had previously had a fight with friends, drunk a lot and taken "benzos" - "then I can no longer remember". 

Then there was an incident in a Klagenfurt disco where the accused hit another guest on the head with a glass bottle. That was self-defense, the other person had "pushed" him first, was much taller and "two or three times as wide" as him. But it was definitely not self-defense, as the judge patiently explained to him.

The fact that he had borrowed an e-bike from a store in Graz and wanted to sell it via an online platform instead of returning it garnished the series of charges with embezzlement and fraud. The defendant, whose family followed the trial, was sent back to his cell after the verdict was announced: he was sentenced to twelve months' unconditional imprisonment (not legally binding). "I hope for your sake that you get your life together," the judge tells him.