Salzburg: man stabs his wife – process at the jury
On Thursday, a jury sentenced a 42-year-old German-born restaurateur to life imprisonment and to an institution for mentally abnormal lawbreakers. The judgment is not final. On May 13 last year in the Pinzgau community of Piesendorf, he first choked his then-wife and then killed her with three knife wounds.
Salzburg – He confessed to manslaughter, legally “a generally understandable emotion in which someone allows himself to be carried away to kill another”. His defense attorney, Franz Essl, speaks of an “affective storm” because the later victim, his wife, who was eleven years his junior, had exploited and cheated on the accused in a year-long thermal assault. to die Jury answers murder or manslaughter clearly with murder. “Life imprisonment” in Austria means an average of 19 years imprisonment.
The indictment is for crimes of murder, the The penalty for this is up to 20 years imprisonment or life imprisonment. The accused Christian L. was born in Hesse in 1980. His parents moved to Pinzgau when he was six years old. After elementary and secondary school, the accused completed an apprenticeship as a cook and waiter. In 2010 he became self-employed for the first time. After interruptions he was finished Operator of a total of five smaller restaurants, including the swimming pool kiosk in Piesendorf. In 2011 he met Sabrina L., whom he later married. Together they have a daughter who is now 7 years old.
According to the prosecutor, there were massive relationship problems. The reasons were the professional stress, but also his health problems. The couple separated in January 2022. The defendant had moved out of the shared apartment, I continued to monitor and stalk his wife on a massive scale, and in some cases also threatened him massively. Even before the separation, there should be a dispute and given knowledge. “At the time he threatened to kick in the door and kill the wife.” The statements “I’ll put you in a wheelchair” and “You’re dead, you just don’t know it yet” are said to have fallen, according to the wife’s announcement at the time.
One day before the crime on May 13, 2022, the wife withdrew an application for a ban on contact. The reason is said to have been a joint meeting with a lawyer, which was said to have been about the wife taking over leases. “The later victim was also in a mild mood because the accused pretended to have a new girlfriend.” On May 13, Christian L. finally “lured” his wife Sabrina to Café Eschbacher. The According to the prosecutor, he had already planned murder at this point. In the office and later in the restaurant area, fisticuffs broke out between the spouses. “A fight followed and then a classic relationship act,” said public prosecutor Katharina Nocker. The defendant has his wife first choked and then killed with a kitchen knife with three powerful stabs in the chest area. Sabrina L.’s mother found the body around 2 p.m.
Sabrina L. humiliated her husband
According to a neuropsychological report, the Accused of sound mind at the time of the offence. So far, the accused has confessed to the facts. But he tries to justify the act with constant insults and insults from his wife. Was the defendant also in a violent state of mind? “No,” says the prosecutor, “die Insults and slights were not new, uh, she was used to it. So why should the allegations on May 13th have been so much more violent than the weeks and months before?”.
Defense Attorney Franz tablespoons described in detail the crisis of the shaped relationship of the spouses. The couple had been together since 2011. They would have married in 2017, but Sabrina L. would have cheated on his client with an online acquaintance before that. “She did it in the family home while he had to slave away in the factories“, says Essl. The lawyer repeatedly pointed out the eleven-year age difference, that she had already had a mountain of debt when she met her, which he later settled. Extramarital affairs would have been repeated. She is said to have offered the inheritance as “compensation”.. This happened in October 2017. A year later, Christian L. had two emergency colon surgeries, which resulted in infertility, with which his wife, who was eleven years his junior, is said to have repeatedly humiliated him. Also towards staff and guests.
Essl then explains how the victim is said to have financially excluded his client from this point on. “The wife wanted a better lifestyle for herself, wanted to experience prosperity. There were always new apartments and new furniture”. When she lost her part-time job at a clothing chain due to the company’s bankruptcy, he should have covered her expenses in full. “While he had to work day and night in the five factories, she used the time to dress up and make herself attractive to other men.”
“She grabbed a knife first”
At that time she met a new man in Piesendorf, who is said to have encouraged her to take over the leases from her husband and thus make herself independent. “But she never wanted a divorce, she wanted to keep taking advantage of her husband‘ said the defendant’s attorney. Her mother took care of the child they had together, as well as another illegitimate child of Sabrina L. from a relationship. “They wanted to take care of their lover.” She would have “wanted to finish off” the accused now. he be increasingly depressed become and tried to take my own life twice. She also only used an allegation of physical harm – “two months after the alleged incident” – to further exploit it.
On May 13, the accused was in a desperate situation, at the meeting he wanted to push her out of the bar, she resisted, then it came to the fisticuffs. In the end, both were lying on the ground, “then she bit him and choked him and she grabbed a knife first,” according to the defendant’s version, which of course no one can testify to. In the scramble, the knife fell out of her hand, he then took it and stabbed in affect“Nor was it premeditated murder, he was in a state of shock and he later recovered himself to the police“.
Accused: “They wanted 15,000 euros for a week of sex”
The defendant, dressed in a white shirt and dark jeans, is also known before a grand jury guilty of manslaughter. “We were a couple in love until I accidentally found debt collection and court letters. They had a lot of debt.” He then wrote in Germany in catering and at the Oktoberfest, earned well and thus paid off her debts, among other things. Then he had two difficult operations. “After that I gave up“. At that time his wife had an extramarital affair with a local man. From 2020, the tone between him and his wife had become increasingly rough, “which is not unusual in the hospitality industry when you sit on top of each other for 24 hours, but it was normal for us”.
In the spring of 2021 he fell ill with Corona. After eight days of isolation, his wife was “suddenly completely different”. You wanted to take over the local from that point on, but you wouldn’t have to be able to raise the transfer fee. “She then repeatedly offered to perform sexual services for me if I gave her 15,000 euros for a week.” On May 12th finally offered to drop the assault charge if they got a staff apartment for free would.
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