13 years in prison

Her own child witnessed the incident: Woman stabbed her husband

The 50-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to intentional aggravated assault.(Bild: Nina Loibnegger, Krone KREATIV)

A marital dispute last December in Carinthia ended in an attempted murder. The couple’s minor son witnessed the scene and, together with his younger sister, alerted emergency responders. This afternoon, the jury at the Klagenfurt Regional Court reached a non-final verdict: 13 years in prison!

A deeply shocking exchange took place last December between two siblings from Carinthia: “Mom stabbed Dad—quick, call 144!” The younger sister followed her brother’s instructions and thereby saved her own father’s life.

A snack knife became the alleged murder weapon
A 50-year-old woman from Carinthia, the mother of the two children, was charged with intentionally killing her husband. The weapon used in the crime is said to have been a standard snack knife, with which the woman inflicted two life-threatening stab wounds on her husband in the chest and abdomen.

“Running into the knife”
The defendant initially pleaded not guilty and told the court that she had felt threatened by her husband. In the dock, the Carinthian woman appeared emotionally distraught and contradicted her own statements made during earlier interrogations. She claimed that she had not attacked her husband with the knife; instead, he had “walked into the knife.” During her initial questioning, however, she had told officers that she had “stabbed him with force.”

The 50-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to intentional aggravated assault.(Bild: Nina Loibnegger, Krone KREATIV)

The background to the crime was a seemingly harmless argument between the two adults. According to the prosecutor, severe alcohol abuse by both spouses characterized their relationship—and at the time of the incident, both were heavily intoxicated, as blood tests revealed. As an expert witness stated, both the victim and the defendant are so-called “mirror drinkers.” He also concluded that “a combination of significant intoxication and an emotional reaction” formed the basis for the crime. The expert report found the defendant to be of sound mind despite her high level of intoxication during the crime.

Son Had to Watch It All Happen
The sequence of events unfolded as follows: The two intoxicated spouses got into an argument over the children’s skis, which the man still had to prepare for the following day. The man sent the woman out of the room and verbally threatened her. When the woman returned to the room, the situation escalated.

Their son watched everything from a few meters away and recounted that “Dad suddenly fell silent.” “I saw that Mom had a knife in her hand,” he said during the preliminary hearing. He then ran upstairs to his younger sister on the first floor and asked her to call 911. When the defendant notices this, she tries to stop the call and threatens the children, saying they’ll “be sent back to the children’s home” if they don’t stop. The children lock themselves in one of the rooms and wait until emergency responders arrive.

Both parents have been alcoholics for decades
Both the prosecution and the defendant’s defense team spoke on Tuesday at the Klagenfurt Regional Court of a “highly toxic relationship” between the two Carinthians. Over the course of their marriage, physical altercations and verbal abuse occurred repeatedly between the two. Due to the unstable family situation, the two minor children were temporarily placed in foster care. Most recently, two specialists from the intensive family support program were assigned to assist the family. 

Both children are currently staying with neighbors and see their father regularly. After the incident, he was taken to Klagenfurt Hospital, where he spent several days in the intensive care unit. Since his release, the man has been undergoing detoxification and attends therapy weekly. During his testimony, he asked the jury for a “lenient sentence” for his wife, who “is a wonderful woman when she’s sober.”