The man had apologized by calling in sick. But the Carinthian apparently didn’t take this document very seriously either: the sick note ended on (yesterday) Wednesday, which is why judge Christian Liebhauser-Karl didn’t excuse the absence.
By forging the certificate, the 40-year-old wanted to get his daughter accepted into a high school, which was initially successful. The matter only came to light later, explained the director of the affected Klagenfurt elementary school, who testified as a witness. He explained that the defendant had hidden an important addition in the certificate, namely that the girl was taught mathematics and German according to the general special school curriculum. This forgery made admission to a high school possible.
“This has never happened to me before”
Only following a colleague at the high school contacted the director and wanted to find out regarding the student’s poor knowledge of German did the fraud come to light. “Does something like this happen often?” the judge wanted to know from the witness. The 54-year-old director’s answer: “That has never happened to me before.” The student now attends a middle school.
Judge Liebhauser-Karl ultimately sentenced the 40-year-old to three months of conditional imprisonment and to cover the costs of the proceedings. Since a certificate is a specially protected document, the penalty might have been up to two years in prison. The guilty plea and the first paid installment of a diversion offered by the public prosecutor had a mitigating effect.
