17 asylum seekers in the house

Landlady allegedly torched her own guesthouse

210 firefighters were unable to save the building, which burned down completely.(Bild: TEAM FOTOKERSCHI/FW SCHÖNAU IM MÜHLKREIS)

A 40-year-old woman has to answer for arson at the Linz Provincial Court on Friday. 17 asylum seekers were accommodated in the rooms of her guesthouse. The prosecution is convinced that they know the landlady's motive - the woman herself denied all accusations in advance.

A major alarm woke 210 firefighters in the Lower Mühlviertel in Upper Austria on the night of September 10 last year. A former inn in Schönau was ablaze with flames. On Friday, the case landed in Linz Regional Court.

Six asylum seekers taken to hospital
Not only did the building burn out completely despite the rapid response of 14 fire departments and six of the 17 asylum seekers living there had to be taken to hospital with suspected smoke inhalation and alternative accommodation had to be organized for the others - at the scene of the incident, it quickly became clear that the fire had not started on its own.

Circumstantial evidence weighs heavily
Investigators from the fire police finally established that lit mattresses, toilet paper and garbage in one of the guest rooms had caused the inferno. This was supported by other findings of the investigation: The 40-year-old sole proprietor had already stored flammable materials there in the weeks before the fire, obtained opaque kitchen curtains, manipulated a door so that it could no longer be closed and even dismantled smoke detectors, according to Walter Eichinger, spokesman for the Linz Regional Court.

The accused landlady denies having started the fire, but admits to having been at the scene of the incident. 

Building was insured for 5.9 million euros
The prosecution is convinced it knows the motive: Money problems. For example, the landlady had taken out a considerable loan for extensions and rented out guest rooms - a business that suddenly collapsed with the pandemic in 2020. In 2023, she decided to take in asylum seekers in the rooms. Because this did not generate enough capital, the woman is said to have started the fire - the building was insured for 5.9 million euros. If convicted, she faces one to ten years in prison.