Trial in Feldkirch

Knife boy: “Desperately wanted to go to prison”

The defendant, who is only 15 years old, is mentally deficient and can neither read nor write.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

A 15-year-old Bulgarian had attacked a random victim several times with a knife at Bregenz railroad station. He was called to account for this in the jury trial at Feldkirch Regional Court. 

It was a frightening scene that took place at Bregenz train station in the late afternoon of December 11 last year: Bored, the 15-year-old Bulgarian initially loitered by the overpass there. At around 5.30 p.m., when several travelers went up the stairs, he pulled out a knife and tried to stab a 20-year-old Syrian man several times in the upper body. The random victim initially manages to escape to the nearby bus station - but just 13 minutes later, the young man attacks his victim again with the knife and tries to ram the six-centimeter-long blade into his body. The 20-year-old was again able to fend off the knife attack. A short time later, the 15-year-old violent offender is arrested by the police and taken to Feldkirch prison.

Serious reduction in intelligence
A psychiatric examination finally reveals that the accused suffers from a severe intellectual disability. "The accused is illiterate and cannot read, write or do arithmetic. He suffers from a reflective disorder, has little empathy and no sense of injustice. Nevertheless, he understands the difference between good and evil, right and wrong," explained court expert Salvatore Giacomuzzi during the trial. When questioned by the police, the Bulgarian had already stated that he had committed the crime out of boredom. "I really wanted to go to prison because an acquaintance of mine is currently serving a prison sentence and I wanted to see what it was like."

"Dangerous like a powder keg"
According to the expert, the adolescent has a severe behavioral disorder and is therefore "dangerous, like a powder keg". Which is why the presiding judge of the panel of lay judges, Martin Mitteregger, sentenced the previously blameless man to two years in prison for the crime of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm - 16 months of which were suspended. However, the Senate followed the expert's recommendation to commit the young offender to a forensic therapy center for his personal and social development. Judgment not final.