The perpetrator was her ex-boyfriend

Violent Crime in the Innviertel: Woman Survives Stabbing

The violent incident took place in Mettmach.(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger/Daniel Scharinger)

A brutal attack on a woman took place on Friday morning in the Innviertel region of Upper Austria. In Mettmach, a 37-year-old man attacked his former partner, a 30-year-old woman, with a knife, stabbing her three times. The victim survived the attack, and the perpetrator was arrested.

Horrifying scenes unfolded Friday morning in an apartment in Mettmach. A violent argument had broken out between a 37-year-old man and his 30-year-old former partner. During the altercation, the Romanian man allegedly stabbed the woman twice in the back and once in the upper arm with a kitchen knife. The 30-year-old’s two children—aged ten and eight, from a different father—were in another room at the time and are believed not to have witnessed the incident.

Flight Even to a Neighboring Town
The seriously injured woman managed to escape, but the 37-year-old man, who was heavily intoxicated, chased her with the knife all the way to a neighboring town. Two passing motorists picked up the woman in their vehicle. That’s when the situation escalated further: The suspect tried to open the car door and attack the woman again. The driver, however, prevented this. As the car drove away, the 37-year-old stabbed at the rear window with the knife.

Help with Domestic Violence

In Austria, women experiencing violence can find help and information from, among other sources, the Women’s Helpline at: 0800-222-555, www.frauenhelpline.at; the Association of Autonomous Austrian Women’s Shelters (AÖF) at www.aoef.at; Austrian Violence Protection Centers at 0800/700-217. In cases of immediate danger or if on-site police intervention is needed, the police can be reached 24 hours a day via the emergency number 133.

Investigation into Attempted Murder
Officers subsequently arrested the man without resistance at his apartment and seized the suspected murder weapon. During his initial interrogation, the 37-year-old confessed to the crime and, according to investigators, stated that he intended to kill. “Because there were two stab wounds to the back, we are investigating this as attempted murder,” says Alois Ebner of the Ried District Attorney’s Office. However, the man has not yet been able to be questioned; his blood alcohol level was 2 per mille, and an interpreter is also needed.

Woman Not in Life-Threatening Condition
The 30-year-old woman was initially treated at Ried Hospital and then flown by emergency medical helicopter to a hospital in Linz. She suffered serious injuries but, according to the attending physician, was not in immediate danger of dying.