“This is my neighborhood”

Knife attack in front of a child: Blade penetrated into the brain

Because the defendant is mentally ill, he will be placed in a forensic therapeutic center.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

A hot summer day in Vienna ended in a brutal attack: Last August, a 40-year-old man was stabbed in the face—between the bridge of his nose and his eye—at a playground in Minna-Lachs-Park in Mariahilf. On Wednesday, the victim described the horrific attack to the jury at the Landl, an incident that continues to define his life to this day...

Ringing in the ears, loss of smell, headaches, leg cramps. These are just a few of the many symptoms that continue to plague the 40-year-old restaurant manager to this day. How did it happen?

Playing basketball with his son
The attack took place on August 25, 2025, in Minna-Lachs-Park in Vienna-Mariahilf. The victim was playing basketball there with his ten-year-old son. “It was a hot summer day. I was exhausted, so I sat down and glanced at my phone for a moment,” the Viennese man described.

Because the victim suffers from a mental illness, he is being housed in a forensic therapeutic center.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

Then the man who would later become the attacker suddenly appeared—he was represented in court on Wednesday by attorney Rudolf Mayer. According to the victim, the man had already been noticed acting aggressively in the neighborhood. Weeks before the incident, he is said to have harassed the father on the street. “This is my neighborhood,” the man had said at the time, provocatively clenching his fists. What the 40-year-old didn’t know: The man suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. 

Photo taken for the police
When the victim tried to take a photo of the man for the police on the day of the incident, the situation escalated. When asked what he wanted from him, the 32-year-old allegedly replied, “I’ll show you what I want”—then he suddenly pulled out a switchblade. According to the indictment, the first stab was aimed at the head. The victim was able to fend off the attack with his arm, sustaining an injury to his elbow in the process.

I only survived the stab thanks to my sunglasses.

Ist sich der Zeuge (40) vor Gericht sicher.

But seconds later came the second, powerful stab: directly between the bridge of the nose and the left eye. The blade pierced the bone, penetrated the eye socket, and entered the brain. According to the medical examiner, the victim suffered, among other things, a fractured skull, brain hemorrhages, and severe injuries to the eye sockets and forehead. The 40-year-old is certain: “It’s only thanks to my sunglasses that I survived the stab.”

Accident During Medical Procedure
Particularly dramatic: During a subsequent operation on the base of the skull, a medical instrument even broke off. A metal splinter remained in the victim’s brain. To this day, the 40-year-old suffers from the consequences of the attack. The restaurant manager has also lost almost all sense of taste. His son is also suffering from the experience. “He hardly talks about it. He says he’s fine,” said the father. Yet the child used to be very lively.

Rudolf Mayer defends(Bild: Gerhard Bartel)

Treatment with high-dose medication
A psychiatric expert warned urgently during the trial of further violence. The risk of similar incidents occurring again without institutionalization is high. The defendant is currently at the Josefstadt Forensic-Therapeutic Center and is being treated there with high-dose medication. “At such a high dose, a healthy person would be knocked out for a few days,” the expert explained.

Particularly alarming: According to the psychiatrist, the man has a “penchant for weapons” and has already been convicted of several relevant offenses.

Then, in the early afternoon, the decision was made: The jury also voted in favor of committing the 32-year-old.