Acquittal in court

Struck with a razor: hairdresser loses eye

The defendant (29) at the Vienna Regional Court – according to the indictment, he is alleged to have blinded his former business partner in his left eye with a razor.(Bild: Hannah Tilly ; Krone KREATIV)

A smashed nose and a lost eye. A 54-year-old hairdresser suffered all these injuries last July after being struck with a razor. On Friday, his former business partner appeared before the jury at the Vienna Regional Court. He is alleged to have been the attacker. However, because the court was unable to refute his claim of self-defense, he was acquitted on the grounds of reasonable doubt. 

The statements made in the Vienna Regional Court differ widely as to why the bloody escalation in a Vienna barber shop occurred. The victim is convinced that his former partner was jealous because he was allowed to take over the salon instead of him. The 29-year-old allegedly became aggressive, verbally abused him, and finally attacked him.

On July 31 last year, the 29-year-old Turkish man allegedly struck his former business partner in the face with a switched-on electric razor. 

Eye had to be removed
The victim suffered severe injuries: his nose was smashed, he suffered a deep contusion at the bridge of his nose, and his nasal bone was broken. Particularly serious was the injury to his left eye, which was so severe that it had to be removed. Since then, the man has been completely blind in that eye and now wears an implant.

The alleged murder weapon: The defendant is said to have inflicted such severe injuries on the hairdresser with a razor that one eye had to be removed.(Bild: stock.adobe.com null)

Defendant claims he was only defending himself
However, the defendant vehemently denies this: "I do not plead guilty!" His version: The victim struck first, he was only defending himself. He could not escape – the salon was too small. According to him, the dispute was about 30,000 euros from the sale of the salon – and even about whose wife cleaned the business more often.

Not enough blood has been shed yet. I'll get the other eye too.

Das sagt der Angeklagte zu der Frau des Opfers.

But that's not all: while the victim was in the hospital, the defendant allegedly waited for his wife at a bus stop. According to the prosecutor's office, he threatened her: "Not enough blood has been shed yet. I'll take the other eye. Fear me – I can kill you all."

Threatened with loss of second eye
The 29-year-old also rejects these allegations. He claims that he was threatened by the woman himself and was merely asking for his money. A distant relative of the accused is also sitting in the dock. According to the indictment, he is said to have told the wife: "Tell your husband to withdraw the complaint – otherwise he will lose his second eye too."

But he also denies everything: "I am innocent," said the man. He only found out about the incident by chance at the hairdresser's and never interfered. The 54-year-old, on the other hand, is certain: "He tried to kill me 100 percent."

Attacker faces 10 years in prison
The 29-year-old was accused ofintentionalgrievous bodily harm with lasting consequences. His co-defendant is charged with coercion. At the end of the evidentiary proceedings, the court concluded that the defendant's version of events could not be refuted beyond reasonable doubt. The judge justified the verdict by stating that the witnesses had contradicted themselves or had not confirmed their statements from the preliminary investigation. Therefore, the evidence was insufficient to prove the defendant's intent with the necessary certainty.