Reached for a knife
Murder Trial Following Couple’s Act of Desperation
An unusual trial for attempted murder begins Tuesday at the Wiener Neustadt Regional Court (Lower Austria). The defendants are a pharmacy owner and his wife, who also worked at the pharmacy. The couple planned a joint suicide in Kottingbrunn, but the attempt went wrong. Because the man is alleged to have used a knife without prior agreement, he now faces up to life in prison.
Kronen Zeitung als bevorzugte Google-Quelle hinzufügen The drama was preceded by a conviction. In June 2025, the pharmacy owner and his wife were sentenced to prison terms after being charged by a major pharmaceutical company. The charges involved embezzlement resulting in damages of approximately two million euros. The man and his wife refused to accept the prison sentences—three years and seven months, respectively—especially since these sentences would also mean their financial ruin.
Because the former pharmacy owner was scheduled to begin his prison sentence in February 2026, the couple began to consider committing suicide together.
The medical examiner cannot determine who stabbed whom.
Anwalt Nikolaus Rast
Bild: zVg
Poison cocktail did not lead to death
On February 1, 2026, they intended to carry out their plan using a poison cocktail. However, the amount of medication was insufficient, and so it came to pass that the 66-year-old retiree woke up the next morning to find that his wife—who, according to the prosecutor, was unconscious—was still alive.
“Since he wanted to carry out the plan, he decided to end his own life and that of his wife using a filleting knife—which had not been agreed upon beforehand—that came from their own kitchen,” writes the Wiener Neustadt District Attorney’s Office in its eleven-page indictment. He is alleged to have stabbed her and then injured himself with the knife. Both survived this as well.
Attorney Reports “Memory Gaps”
“The medical examiner cannot determine who stabbed her,” argues attorney Nikolaus Rast, who represents the pharmacy owner, adding: “Nor do the DNA traces prove that my client wielded the knife. Both had taken the mix of medications and had memory lapses.” He is pleading for an acquittal in the jury trial.
The “Krone” will report on the trial.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Willkommen in unserer Community! Eingehende Beiträge werden geprüft und anschließend veröffentlicht. Bitte achten Sie auf Einhaltung unserer Netiquette und AGB. Für ausführliche Diskussionen steht Ihnen ebenso das krone.at-Forum zur Verfügung. Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.
Hinweis in eigener Sache: Das krone.at-Forum präsentiert sich ab sofort in neuem Design! Wir freuen uns über konstruktives Feedback. Damit die Diskussionen in den Kommentarbereichen beim jeweiligen Thema bleiben, können Sie uns Rückmeldungen hier hinterlassen.
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.